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84 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2022.12.17)”
The streak reaches 6 and the Knicks are the hottest team in the East.
Very satisfying win in an uneven game with uneven performances against an opponent in shambles.
The Bulls got out of the gates hungry and accurate but the Knicks absorbed the blows, a Lavine’s three gave Chicago his biggest lead (7) with 4:10 to go in the 2nd, but Brunson hit 3 consecutive bombs (including an heat check), Grimes added another (his 4th) and the Knicks went to the locker room on a 17-5 run.
Everyone expected a Bulls’ reaction but instead RJ woke up scoring 11 points in the quarter, Grimes added 7, the Bulls slowly deflated and the Knicks extended their lead. Chicago never threatened and a 14-0 run in the middle of the 4th gave us Rose’s moving fairytale moment.
Some Knicks played well, some don’t, our halfcourt offense is still clunky and the Bulls looks like a team waiting to fire the coach and/or start a firesale, but there’s no denial that something has clicked for this team, the effort level in every game is a couple notches higher than before, good vibes are evident.
Sunday in Indiana will be another interesting test.
Stats Of The Game
OReb: NY 15 Chi 2
TOs: NY 10 Chi 20
STL: NY 13 Chi 3
FTA: NY 32 Chi 7 (they were a little unhappy with the refs)
The Knicks shot worse (40 vs 47) but took 15 more shots.
Basically all the hustle plays were ours.
Grades:
Brunson A-
Career high in threes (6), unusual AST/TO ratio (6-3), a little too much dribbling for my taste but him and Grimes save us in the first half.
Grimes A
His raise from “situational” to indispensable glue guy is one of the keys to this streak. The defense is good and he’s able to slid through the cracks of our heavily iso offense, always playing safety valve to Randle’s, RJ’s and Brunson’s sometimes stubborn forays.
Mitch A-
The anchor of the defense and a beast on the glasses, I’d like to see him more involved in rolls to the basket but yesterday our 3-Lefties weren’t in the mood.
Barrett B-
Took his usual nap, this time in the 2nd, then woke up and light the scoreboard in the 3rd. Too many missed FTs and some weak drives, but his progress have been steady.
Randle B
Solid game despite a bad shooting night. Kept his composure for most of the game, rebounded fiercely, had 3 steals and his two consecutive corner threes were the final dagger to the Bulls.
IQ D
Oh my. 1-12 (0-7 3FG), he missed the first 9 shots. Yes, he defends and his energy never waver but the trade rumors are in his head.
Hartenstein C-
10 Rebs in 14 minutes and many of his missed shots are failed tap-ins, he’s always in the middle of things but he needs to be stronger, sometimes his hands resemble Noel’s too much.
McBride A-
The usual ball of energy and defense, he’s starting to gain reputation and showing more confidence. Bravo.
Sims B
Talking about energy…
Rose/Arcidiacono/Svi NA
Kudos to Bulls’ fans for their unconditional love for D-Rose, it was a nice moment.
Thibs A
Our offense is still a pain to watch, with few ball/players movement, a lot of iso and people keeping the ball 20 seconds, but he prepared this game perfectly.
Thx, Max. Missed most of this game, but you make it seem like I was there. Only worry: IQ. Oh no. He’s been out of it for a bit too long.
It’s funny, like a lot of the other Knicks, IQ never stops hustling (Randle and RJ have really been the two main culprits in the past with not hustling, and both of them have been hustling their asses off lately), but yeah, the shot has been busted for way too long now, right? What the heck is up with that?
His shot was off way before the trade rumors started (and they probably don’t help him), basically he’s been off all season long and the sad thing is that he never shot over 39.5% in his career.
I appreciate his hustle a lot and I know this is going to bring me an avalanche of criticism, but a shot-less IQ is a tradable IQ.
We already have a “defense first/all out hustler” that plays the same position (Deuce) so IQ becomes expendable if something good faces the horizon…
That said, I hope he’ll score 40 in Indiana…
Such a weird game last night. I mean- the team played well on defense by forcing turnovers and not fouling. But Chicago shot nearly 50% and still got blown out lol. Just weird. Great win though. The best thing I saw last night was Randle staying engaged even when his shot wasn’t falling. We critique him alot..he deserves all the love for his play this season once he finally settled in. RJ had his “these mahfuckas cain’t guard me” swag last night. Yal saw his face all game, right? LOL. That is the RJ we need. Maybe he’s figuring it out with Brunson and Randle.
Those motherfuckers actively didn’t guard him at times! The Knicks got the ball at the top of the key with four seconds left on the shot clock after the ball went out of bounds (on a bad call by the ref, as it was clearly off of Mitch), and RJ just drove right to the basket unimpeded in, like, two seconds!
Ha! Facts Brian!
Yeah, the tale of two halves for RJ was quite pronounced
I worry about IQ too but his defense was good
Re: the DeRozan for RJ trade proposals from last night, what about Anonuby for RJ?
We’d need to add a first in either trade, but which makes more sense? OG is younger and a great defender, but if the idea is to get a “first option” to put in front of Randle, maybe DeRozan is the guy.
I liked the old IQ of mid-20s usage and a 557 TS% as a 21-year-old rook, stylin and profilin after hitting from very deep in the second quarter of Hawks Game 1 to help lift the team out of Elf’s Dungeon; this version is too reminiscent of RP McMurphy after he came out of electroshock.(*)
Not a lot is going to get done as a 507 TS guy with less than the baseline 1 in 5 usage. Shooting under 300 from deep. He ain’t even really Tier 5 in this guise, plucky as he might be on the defensive end.
(*) I won’t bother saying “with Tom Thibodeau as Nurse Ratched.”
Re DeRozan: Taking the veteran purgatorial backwash of another purgatorial squad is the definitive non-starter hard pass.
https://nypost.com/2022/12/16/do-knicks-have-a-way-out-of-no-mans-land-as-key-nba-date-arrives/
I don’t believe we can get a first for IQ, but if we can I would do it. And it has nothing to do with his play this year. He and Obi are depreciating assets. We’re not going to benefit from their rookie scale contracts this year or next. If we can get the opportunity to reset the scale with a future pick, that is good.
If they weren’t our guys and all we had to go on was the data on BB ref and Second Spectrum and a few anecdotal observations and the Knicks gave up, let’s say, a top 15-protected 1 for Immanuel Quickley, what would the board say?
As to Obi, are we of the mind that there’s a decent chance he’s not even going to make it back into Thibs’s rotation when he comes back?
Definitely depreciating assets because payday’s coming, but also depreciating in terms of data. Not a good combo.
This is a pretty smart analogy from Bobby Marks. We’re baking in the oven this season, and probably next, too. Best thing to do is just enjoy the ups and don’t sweat the downs. If we just let this ride, do no harm, use our draft picks, we could find ourselves in a promising position within 2 seasons.
Patience has never been a strong suit of this organization, though.
Those motherfuckers actively didn’t guard him at times! The Knicks got the ball at the top of the key with four seconds left on the shot clock after the ball went out of bounds (on a bad call by the ref, as it was clearly off of Mitch), and RJ just drove right to the basket unimpeded in, like, two seconds!
imagine losing to brian at poker. sure busto and second mortgage, but then the confusingly disgusted jeremiad…
Re: Obi & IQ, we’re building the team around Jalen, Grimes, RJ, Randle, Mitch. I think those guys would be better served with a future pick down the road than with IQ or Obi on a second contract. Especially since we’re going to likely want to upgrade Randle if we’re ever going to do anything serious.
It was almost nice to see IQ go 0-7 from 3 because at least he was actually taking them. Almost.
What’s weird is he’s shooting a career low 3PA/36–he’s gone from 8.8 as a rookie, to 7.9, to a positively RJ-ian 6.1 this year. He’s 5th on the team in 3PA/36. His 3PA frequency has dipped below league average among combo guards (48th percentile).
That’s just obviously not going to be a successful formula for a guy who will never butter his bread in the paint, minor improvements aside. I guess it’s kind of a chicken or the egg problem–is he shooting less because he isn’t making them?
I’m not going to blame Thibs because at least in his public comments Thibs has been very consistent in saying Quickley has the green light. I’m sure E will disagree but I find it hard to believe Thibs’ message in private is all that different.
Arbitrarily giving him just a .350 3PT% brings his TS% up to .540. Still not good, but a tick above average for combo guards and that’s assuming he didn’t increase his 3PA volume at all. Taken together with his defense, it would be a fine season and we could reasonably hope the 3PT% and 3PA would go up.
But yeah, 29% on low volume ain’t gonna get it done. I still wouldn’t trade him for a lottery protected first because the changes we need to see for him to be productive don’t seem all that crazy, but open to disagreement on that front. Just seems like a guy who would suddenly start shooting 39% again on another team. Dolan’s Razor is undefeated after all.
Max, thanks for the update. I was wondering what happened to them and am glad they are back.
yeah. quickley has improved in so many ways, more than i would have guessed he could, but he just absolutely needs shoot the three pretty well and at volume to be a meaningfully good player.
Speaking of weird steals, the Lakers game had one of the odder “steals” I’ve ever seen, as Westbrook went to pass to Austin Reeves for a three, but Lebron cut in and “stole” the pass and continued his cut to the basket for a dunk (or maybe a layup, I can’t remember the score so much as I was distracted by the “steal”). What a weird play.
I still think IQ plays better off the ball. When he’s handling the ball and has playmaking responsibilities he’s not getting the same shots. I’m not sure what detailed shot data would say, but I wouldn’t trust it. It’s just not same timing, locations, defenders, job or maybe most importantly mindset. The thing is, Deuce is not really a PG either. I’m not really sure what the solution is because I like both of them and they are playing well as a team together. But I do think Quick’s shot would improve if he wasn’t handling the ball so much and was instead in motion waiting for a kick out or running to the wing in a fast break situation with someone else handing the ball.
If we do trade him (I’d be against that) the very first thing his new team is going to do is play him off the ball paired with a real backup PG.
October: Randle is the worst veteran contract in the NBA
November: RJ is the worst rookie extension contract in the NBA
December: IQ’s shot is broken
KB never disappoints! Any bets on what January’s KB Hot Take of the Month will be?
“quickley has improved in so many ways, more than i would have guessed he could”
See, I think this is the important part for a 23yo…
More seriously, IQ likely spent the entire offseason working on his body and on getting to the rim without recklessly hunting fouls. His shooting is probably suffering from neglect and getting used to his new body.
Yet even with the erratic shooting/scoring, I don’t think what he does on the floor right now could be easily replaced. He has become an awesome glue guy on the defensive end, and the last thing I’m worried about is whether he can get to a Marcus Smart-level of shooting. His shot is gonna come around. It’s just a matter of time.
Selling low on him right now because he’s missing 3’s would be dumber than dumb.
The fact that we have Brunson and Rose on the team probably affords Quickley the time to get untracked- especially with his defense and board work being really good right now. But Holy shit he’s gotta hurry up and figure his shot out. He definitely has less confidence on offense than he did his rookie season when he would regularly pull up from 25 and go on hot streaks that would blow a game open. He’s never been a consistent shooter in the NBA, but he’s always been a dangerous one before this season
Yeah, IQ seems to have worked on everything but his shot. I applaud that, but I worry that a guy who was once swimming across the floor after routinely nailing consecutive threes is now becoming more like the dreaded Elfrid Payton: a *kind of* good defender who can *kind of* handle the ball if necessary. I love IQ; but he needs to get back some of his jump shooting mojo, even for the sake of his own career. I hope Z is correct, that he’s just out of practice and is acclimating to his new strength.
No trades. LRose likes his guys.
And my (terrible) KB hot take for January is … Sims should start 😉
“But Holy shit he’s gotta hurry up and figure his shot out.”
But why? What’s the urgency? We just won 6 in a row (5 blowouts) with him being the first player off the bench and averaging 27mpg.
It will be great when (not if, when) he starts settling into his shot. But there’s no urgency, not the way he’s playing in the context of this rotation. Thibs is not going to reduce his minutes and other guys are picking up the offensive slack. In the meantime, his defensive numbers are ridiculously good (teams are -15.7 Points/100 possessions with him on the floor, 99th %ile, net differential +8.5, 85th %ile).
I’m with you on this Strat and I still think “Lou Williams 2.0” (with defense!) is his ceiling, a very useful one…
“And my (terrible) KB hot take for January is … Sims should start”
Sorry, not apocalyptic enough to qualify.
Z-
Because he’s the only shooter off the bench. At some point the floor is gonna really shrink for him, unless Deuce starts hitting shots and Hart starts taking and making jumpers. That said, I definitely don’t want him to hurry up with his shot at the expense of his current overall floor game. I just want him to shoot better than 38-39% from the floor and get that 3 ball up to 36-37%.
One thing I’ve loved watching is the way Randle is throwing his imposing chiseled out of granite, scarred body around on defense. He’s always been a banger on O but he’s trying some weakside chasedown backboard-slapping blocks that are NFL-level violent. He may not have the greatest vertical or end-to-end speed, but he’s gotta be one of the most physically hurtful players to play against right now.
“Sorry, not apocalyptic enough to qualify.”
Hahaha. Then I reprise my demand for the All Passing lineup: all assists, no baskets (although Grimes is messing with that now)
Hart
Sims
Grimes
IQ
Deuce
I want IQ on a cheap second contract. But not as much as I did two months ago.
I think he will come around but he is the only guy I care about who is going the wrong way. I still believe he is the lovechild of Pat Bev and Lou Will in the making.
Not sure I see Randle on defense making that much of a difference except on the rebounding side. He had some huge contested boards the last couple of games. That is something we really need and I have seen an uptick there from him.
PJ, I think Thibs has considered that and is now mixing him in with the starters more. He is coming in for RJ midway through the first, and then later on RJ comes in to play with the bench, then Julius and Brunson, with IQ being the last to sub out, so he gets considerable minutes with the better iso scorers.
And that’s one of the benefits of the 9-man rotation. The focus is on lineup combos that complement each other. When IQ is out there with Deuce, it’s usually with Hart and Sims to gobble up the misses and then one high usage iso scorer from the starting lineup.
And if IQ starts shooting, that lineup will be killer. For now it’s merely utilitarian.
“And if IQ starts shooting, that lineup will be killer. For now it’s merely utilitarian.”
Yup. This is precisely what we’re dreaming of. So no trade for IQ, please.
We are now up to 8th in DRtg. That’s a pretty awesome turnaround in a very short time.
“One thing I’ve loved watching is the way Randle is throwing his imposing chiseled out of granite, scarred body around on defense.”
************************
John Cheever?
“John Cheever?”
********************************
Troll?
IQ’s problem is similar to Trae Young and i don’t mean that in a good way… Trae and IQ should be much better shooters but because they take such highly volatile and low quality 3s and 2s their %s suffer… Trae basically has Westbrook %s if he didn’t take and make so many free throws…
IQ is taking the RJ approach of taking more catch and shoot 3s and just doing slightly less which hasn’t helped yet but should eventually make things better… but he also has to contend with his floater %s coming back down to earth but what IQ is doing is good for him both in the short and long term…
with so much of his game depending on high volatility… you get what you get from his rookie year…. and you get what you’re getting now on the flip side… what you probably end up with something in between which is what happened last year….
I’d probably add the “Thibs has to win this game or he should be fired” hot take you were peddling a few weeks ago to the list, but that’s just me.
The reason I don’t want him is that cheap second contracts are few and far between. I’d rather take my chances on finding the next IQ. It’s not about him at all. Second contracts for role players rarely offer surplus value, and if we can get a 1st for him I think it’s reasonable we can find another player just as good on a better contract. It’s the smart bet, I think.
First of all, being called “the Chekhov of the suburbs” should be taken as a compliment, regardless of actual intent.
Second, oooo, I know I know! (waves hand desperately).
January’s hot take is easy.
Obi Toppin isn’t rusty, he’s bad/always sucked/is a witch.
Bench him/trade him/burn him!
In typical Z-Man fashion, he’s taken a serious conversation, stepped on it, rebranded it as something it never was, and then mocked the rebranded take that no one ever presented in the first place, all so he can get his rocks off before lunch.
And then Raven jumped on the pile. (For a guy who is so vociferous about others, perhaps you ought to check your own inclination to flame).
Hubie, jesus christ, there’s no flame in there even a little! You guys are so trigger-happy. I pointed out that John Cheever is a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winner, that’s a good thing to be called. I don’t know the intent, and given histories it might have been mocking (!), but the point I was making was to take such things as a positive and not react negatively.
You guys are so…
It’s cool, man. I’m heading to Florida to pick up my son, so I’ll be gone for a while. I will just take a moment to clarify what the “hot take” actually was:
The idea is not to sell low on IQ or Obi bc they’re playing poorly. The idea is that, due to where they are on their contracts, they are depreciating assets, making this perhaps the best opportunity to sell high on them. Which is why I said “if we can get a first round pick“ for them, I would do it.
Two first round picks (lottery protected, most likely) for two guys not starting on a team with no title aspirations right now is an outstanding return, IMO. And I think we’d have a good chance of finding players as good or better in a future draft.
Merry Christmas, fellas. Stay jolly.
“You guys are so…”
(Fails to find words, flunks the Cheever test…)
Anyway, I’ll look forward to gently mocking everyone’s Obi takes in a month.
Wiki says Cheever definitely had KB’s number 😉
“His main themes include the duality of human nature: sometimes dramatized as the disparity between a character’s decorous social persona and inner corruption, and sometimes as a conflict between two characters (often brothers) who embody the salient aspects of both – light and dark, flesh and spirit.”
Safe travels, H.
I, for one, appreciate the logic of your argument to trade IQ and Obi. I just don’t want to do that because of my “our guys” bias.
Raven, I loved your Cheever comment. I was referring to carrying on the apocalyptic hot take nonsense by predicting next month we’re all going to turn on Obi Toppin. It supported the idea that we’re all be knee jerk and crazy, when in fact we were enjoying a reasonable discussion before it got rebranded.
And if y’all haven’t read Falconer by John Cheever yet, get to it. If you want something shorter, The Swimmer is probably his most popular story, but I’ve always counted The Five Forty Eight as a favorite.
I guess I’m bringing Cheever on the plane now. Good thing my boy can’t read yet.
Z-
Agreed. I honestly don’t think Thibs is getting enough credit for what he’s doing scheme and rotation-wise tight now. My only issue is how long are these guys gonna stay healthy in that rotation. Everyone but Sims is getting around 18 minutes a game or better. Most nights Quickley plays starter’s minutes. I like it alot, I just wish there was room for a bigger, switchable wing- Cam or someone else. I don’t know how long a playoff style rotation is gonna be effective in the regular season..this early. Nevertheless, it seems like Thibs remembered that he actually is a good coach.
Anunoby would fit perfectly at the 3 in this team, but I don’t see Toronto trading him unless he asks out or they really implode. Their identity right now is having FVV and 4 long switchable defenders (even if not a real true center among them)
Anyone other than the two usual suspects have an issue with anything I posted today?
PJ agreed but that’s the luxury of depth. Most teams have a guy or two who might be getting rotation minutes on other teams, e.g. Cam, or conversely, are in a rotation solely due to injury, e.g. Sims.
I like the current rotation, and wonder what will happen when Obi heals up.
I definitely thought Thibs was on the hot seat after the DAL debacle. Although permabenching Rose and Cam on top of Fournier suggests a coach feeling some urgency, maybe he wasn’t on the hot seat at all, just tinkering as coaches do. So if anyone wants to mock it for an apocalyptic hot take, sure, have at it!
I’d keep IQ because I don’t think we’re going to get anything for him that’s likely to turn into something better. IF we can fix his 3 point shot he’s at least a productive NBA player. If we deal him for some fairly protected first what are the odds we’re drafting one of those? Realistically not that great.
Over the win streak the Knicks have a 116.7 ORtg—would T-3rd in the league. And a 99.9 DRtg—would be 1st in the league by 8 points.
I don’t think IQ gets traded now. I doubt the FO wants to mess with any player in the rotation while on a 6 game win streak. When we come down to earth a bit he might be on the block again.
Also IQ’s FT rate has dropped every year, not a good trend either.
Would still keep him since he just costs Dolan dollars.
Part of the drop in IQ’s free throw rate was the rules change. I don’t count that as him getting worse.
re: our defense-we’ve obviously been getting somewhat lucky lately. Teams have missed a ton of 3s against us.
That said, we do seem to be playing meaningfully better. Indiana should be a good test. I have a feeling we’ll lose-they’re pretty good at home, we’re due for a team to have good shooting luck against us and Indy is one of the leagues most 3 happy teams.
If it’s the rule change isn’t that worse? He’s never getting those FTs back in that case and that was a huge part of his game.
Someone posted somewhere that Quickley now leads the entire league in some defensive rating.
I couldn’t tell what the statistic was but I am going to mention it without posting the link because it supports my position.
I know nobody likes WAR much anymore, but this article on the suckiness of the 2020 draft class was interesting. It has our much maligned IQ as the second-best in the draft by WAR, for whatever that’s worth (possibly very little). Also discusses Obi a bit.
It’s also an interesting cautionary tale re building through the draft. Not saying it’s a bad idea, just you know, sometimes not so very. Having said that, I’m strongly in the ‘throw the damn darts’ group…
https://www.theringer.com/nba/2022/12/16/23511791/nba-draft-2020-james-wiseman-anthony-edwards
Yeah, if it really is the rule change, that’s berry bad. I don’t think it necessarily is the rules change, by the way.
IQ is probably not gonna fetch what we want if he cant shoot. If he does manage to make shots again we’ll want to keep him since hes so good at so much else. I dont think the FO would trade a good version of IQ for anything less than a lottery pick which we probably wont get.
Obi on the other hand I think is likely to be moved since Randle is solidifying himself as being too good to move on from. We can find Randles backup elsewhere.
This is the only sad element of the season so far. Obi hasn’t played enough to make the final decision IMHO. I think the same about Cam. Others here disagree and believe the worth/s of both are settled. I respect that opinion.
Owen, here’s a link to IQ’s page on Cleaning the Glass. You have to pay to probe deeper…
https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4769/onoff#tab-team_efficiency
You can easily access any player by googling “_____ _____ on-off” (insert player name)
Kemba 9, Cavs 6
Kemba’s residual value to us…making sure the pick conveys…
I’m not “out” on Obi. I just disagree with those who that a consistent 17 mpg isn’t enough to evauate his play and potential. Clearly he’s not what you hope for at #8, but he’s fun and rootable and has improved on D enough to keep him in that limited backup role. But if a decent trade pops up, no objections here!
Conversely, I am essentially “out” on Cam. I personally don’t see the professionalism and focus necessary for consistency. He’s a tall, lanky version of DSJ, or better put, Mario Hezonja 2.0. I’d be hardly moved if the FO found no takers and just waived him, and will consider any asset we get in return for him to be found money. If he gets back in the rotation and shows something different, that would be awesome! But I ain’t holding my breath.
As KBA said, I respect opinions to the contrary. As a lifer, always hope to be wrong on a negative take on a Knicks player.
mavs current lineup has kemba frank bullock and th jr
Don’t forget Monsieur Pinson 😉
What’s Frank’s plus/minus? Lol
My main problem with the whole Cam debacle is that he’s playing just as good if not better than the guy who leads our team in minutes.
Yeah, at least RJ rebounds and passes a little, but his efg, ts, and 2pt% is significantly worse than Cam’s on the year.
I know RJ has “turned a corner” and we’re all supposed to be psyched, but I just don’t love how he’s treated like some Golden Boy and Cam is considered trash.
Kidd just Thibbed Kemba to the tune of 42 minutes. Insane. Speaking of insane Booker is going nuts against the Pels.
https://nypost.com/2022/12/17/knicks-quentin-grimes-validating-tom-thibodeaus-gradual-approach/
“I know RJ has “turned a corner” and we’re all supposed to be psyched, but I just don’t love how he’s treated like some Golden Boy and Cam is considered trash.”
The only thing Cam has done better than RJ is post a .558 TS%, but on a much lower 15.8% usage. He is probably one of the worst rebounders his size in the entire NBA…2.5 per 36!! He also doesn’t pass and hardly gets to the line. Personally I think that his defense is much worse than his stats would suggest.
I certainly don’t think of RJ as some golden boy, but the team has invested big money in him long-term, so he’s going to get deferential treatment just on that basis, for better or for worse. RJ definitely sucked royally for his first 15 games or so, but any fair analysis would conclude he’s turned it around majorly. In December (7 games), RJ is posting 21/7/3 per 36 with a .552 TS% and shooting 40.5% from 3. The Knicks are 6-0 since Cam was benched and RJ has played 34 mpg in a 9-man rotation where every player’s impact is heavily scrutinized. Whatever happened in Oct and Nov, the team is rolling with RJ and without Cam.
I wish Cam the best of luck in his future in the NBA. But there’s something missing right now that he’s not going to find here. Maybe next to LeBron or Jimmy he can find a niche.
RJ has had very productive periods in the past, followed by trash, followed by a very productive period, followed by trash, going on 3 1/2 years. There have been numerous false starts where it looked like he was turning the corner.
I won’t trust anything he does until he demonstrates some reasonable level of consistency in both the data and his decision making. His decision making deteriorates when things are going bad and that turns the typical bad game into disaster. Then it spirals.
strat, agree for the most part. I am not very bullish on RJ beyond him possibly becoming a consistently productive rotation player. The jury is definitely out on him. But he is 22 years old and signed to a contract commensurate with a #3 option on a very good team. And his coach believes in him and might even be betting his career as a NBA head coach on him. He’s not going to be marginalized by anyone while he’s here. And the team is winning with him playing the most minutes.
IMO, soon after Obi is cleared, the rotation will go back to the way it was before his injury. Thibs was smart with the way he handled Grimes when he got hurt and will probably do the same thing with Obi. He’ll ease him back in.
We know what Obi is.
He a very athletic high energy player that’s good in transition and with various lobs and back cuts against teams that are sleeping defensively. They are trying to turn him into a stretch PF, but right now he’s too limited to start on very good team and would get shut down in the playoffs against teams making adjustments.
Sims is better than him at a few things, but he’s even more limited offensively. You have to get the right combinations on the court.
Kemba had a great line. He scored 32 points on 25 shots to go with 7 assists. He did play 42 minutes, but all the starters played 40 minutes or more because of the overtime. The starters still all had zero or better plus minus. But they don’t have much of a bench with Doncic not playing. They played 9 guys total and one of those guys was Pinson, who played 9 minutes.
Good for Kemba, a class A person.
Obi will get every chance, but Sims is breathing down his neck. He better play D.