This is sort of besides the point. Deuce and JHart have good steals numbers even within Thibs schemes. Hart’s actually rose over his career numbers after he was traded. But that’s their thing. If that’s not one’s thing, it doesn’t make one a bad defender in and of itself. Some guy nicknamed named The Locksmith averaged a paltry 1 stock per 36 during his 5 seasons with the Knicks (never higher than 1.3). Of course, this is not to say that RJ is Anthony Mason, only that you can be a pretty good defensive player without piling up steals and blocks. (and no, Thibs wasn’t a Knicks assistant until after Mase was traded!)

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.

Also I like Sims but I don’t think he is much more than end of the bench player. It is like plying 4 on 5 on offense when he is PF.

I would like us to add a PF who can shoot some. Green is still FA. But don’t know if he fits us.

Frank had 6 assists today. I think he’s finally turning a corner

Frank has never turned the corner against anybody

We give up some “free” buckets because we crash the offensive boards so heavily (because our guys miss lots of shots) but even if you factor that in we were an average at best defensive team last year.

A middle-of-the-pack ranking on defense is decent considering our personnel, and I think we might be able to do a bit better than that this year with a full season of Hart and DDV, who are now our two best ball hawks.

Should be an interesting experiment to see if, for instance, DDV’s stocks numbers take a dive under Thibs because he’s being coached to stay in front of defenders and not jump passing lanes. If those numbers stay the same, you can logically infer that RJ’s pitiful stocks numbers are not because of a coaching anomaly.

Off topic but the Rugby World Cup went 4-4 this weekend. Every quarterfinal was a classic. The French captain played with a shattered cheekbone. Argentina is in the semis. Just an amazing sporting event.

(ducks for cover)

i’m thinking i should do myself a favor and skip the g-men’s game…