Knicks Morning News (2023.10.15)

McKinley Singleton?

Yeah but those were Singleton’s only NBA minutes…his cup of coffee never even had a chance to cool down!

It’s interesting that folks here won’t defer to Thibs’ judgment on defense. He alluded to that issue, and to defensive metrics in general, by pointing out that most critics do not consider the role a particular player has in a particular defensive scheme. My sense is that his constant displeasure with Obi’s defense is about him not doing what Thibs expected him to do…and the reason he rolls with RJ is because RJ does what Thibs wants him to do.

But even by the eye test alone, I thought Obi was a terrible defender…constantly late to spots in help rotations and getting out-angled by drivers. And I would not be surprised if at some point felatively early on, Rick Carlisle, another demanding defensive coach, is going to become fed up with Obi’s defense and opt for one of the other PF options for the serious work, while Obi reverts to the “energy guy off the bench” role that he had here.

“IMO the reason he rolls with RJ is either political (high draft pick, trade value) or he has a terrible blind spot.”

Or maybe you have the terrible blind spot. Just sayin’…

“It’s certainly possible, but I think it’s way more likely it’s Thibs and politics.”

Right, because Thibs cares a lot more about politics, just like he did when he continually played Cam and Kemba after the FO acquired them.

And because even the most celebrated defensive coaches have massive blind spots that sharp-eyed horse racing handicappers can pick up on.

“Thibs needs a lead guard on the second unit, and that job has fallen to Quickley. I think that has a lot to do with Quickley not starting.”

Correct.

Thibs probably views RJ as a workhorse innings eater at the SF spot. On defense, he largely keeps smaller players in front of him, guards elite wings pretty well in iso, and can body up bigs on switches. On offense he goes downhill and attacks the rim. He doesn’t do any of those things consistently on an elite level, but he is the best option the team has to eat minutes at the small wing position. It’s pretty clear that Thibs will end games with who he feels are the best options, including running with Josh Hart at RJ’s expense. But RJ will get his ~26 minutes in the first 3 quarters on most nights and will be a first option in most fourth quarters unless and until Thibs feels that RJ is costing him games. That didn’t happen last year….after the first 20 or so games, the team won at a 50+ win pace with RJ getting the second most minutes. Then he was our second best player in the playoffs. He ain’t going anywhere.

I’ve posted this before, but here’s some of Thibs thoughts on what the defensive metrics say about RJ.

GANGSTA WIN FOR THE J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS

I think it’s fair to call us an average defensive team last year. It’s complicated though. If you look at the 4 factors, we were 8th in opponent eFG%, 9th in DReb%, and 15th in opponent FT/FGA. However, we were 24th in generating TOVs…which we know is by Thibs’ design.

What is curious to me is that if our eFG% was a lousy 20th in the NBA, but was higher than our opponents eFG% which was 22nd in the NBA (or 8th lowest), it’s kind of weird to say that our offense was all that much better than our defense. Rebounding is sort of a separate thing. Offensive rebounding gets fully credited to the offense, but it helps defensively by keeping your opponent from possessing the ball before you get another FGA…in a similar way that a steal does. Similarly, defensive rebounds help the offense by increasing transition opportunities that don’t exist after made baskets.

And my guess is that Thibs is less concerned with defensive efficiency (PPP) rankings and how box score stats play into that, and more concerned with winning the PPP differential battle.

That said, I think he’s aware of RJ’s issues with closing out on shooters and navigating PnRs, but also knows how much is on him and how much is on breakdowns elsewhere. He’s probably aware that Brunson gets picked on and has to be supported by a defensive scheme with some trade-offs. He was certainly aware of the players other than Brunson who were easy to target, making the whole scheme break down. There’s some domino effect stuff that he surely sees better than we do.