Knicks Morning News (2025.02.11)

As usual, I don’t know wtf PT is saying beyond “You guys are idiots!” and that he’s probably correct.

In looking at the game film (which I think is the only way to really assess defensive responsibility) it was clear to me that the issue was definitely not a scheme thing. On each play, at least one player either made a conscious decision that was suboptimal (meaning that there was a choice involved), or was caught with his pants down, or was simply overmatched/overwhelmed by the bigger/better offensive player. I’d be happy to hear a counterpoint on this, but that’s the way I saw it.

Minny never had a good defense with KAT playing the 5. But last year when he spent two thirds of his time at the 4, the Wolves were #1 on D. Then this year, he moves back to the 5 full time and the Knicks get worse on D. What a coincidence!

geo, I have been trying to ignore his posts because at best they are uninteresting and at worst they are detrimental to the KB experience. There is a rudeness that stems from an utter inability to read the room.

For example, no one else seems to care all that much that Clarence posts weird shit about food and sex and airport bathrooms. Not my cup of tea, but easy enough to blow by. And if they were truly out of line, I trust that a bunch of of the fine posters here would rise up to protest. Then we’d find out whether Clarence was capable of reading the room.

But the other guy just can’t handle it and feels obligated to respond to everything that is posted rather than just letting it go. He fans flames rather than extinguishing them. And everyone suffers from smoke inhalation as a result. Yet he doesn’t give a shit.

And then there’s the “I am respected and beloved outside of this blog!” and “I am among the least bigoted people you would ever know” stuff. We have no way to verify this, nor should we have to. The general feedback about this poster from this community is consistently negative, with few exceptions. Yet this poster feels like the community just doesn’t get how wonderful he is or how beloved he is every place else but here.

There’s a rudeness there that is incomprehensible. Either 1) the poster is clueless about how he is perceived in the world outside of this blot, where people politely despise him, or feel sorry for him, 2) the poster purposely acts differently on KB than in the world outside of KB, or 3) the person is surrounded by folks outside of this blog who dig his schtick and actually like it.

In any case, I will go back to ignoring him and letting others engage, although it would be better reading if no one ever responded to him, especially Clarence, who kind of trolls him to the detriment of the blog. I just think that most of us wish that the inane give-and-take would stop.

See, I think it’s especially important to watch and I wish everyone would. This is because certain folks (including Macri fwiw) are throwing around stats and accusations without looking at the plays themselves to see what is actually happening. And even the film raises as many questions as it answers. Was it a great screen or a bad navigation? Was it a bad decision by the player or the coach? Were the made shots 1) allowed by design and just unlucky variance, or 2) due to great offensive execution just beating good defense, or 3) due to a defensive breakdown that allowed shots that the coach didn’t want allowed?

At some point, one has to question whether the defensive personnel is even capable of consistently defending teams like the Celts and Thunder. It’s possible that you just run out of adjustments before they run out of counter-adjustments because their offensive personnel is just better than your defensive personnel.

The execution in the plays above is so poor that it’s hard to definitively answer that question. Next game will be more telling. But the trend does not look promising.

“Z-Man – Excellent post. And it’s blog not blot. 🙂”

Freudian slip.

“They’re going to have to break up this team to improve it.”

Sort of agree. Brunson is obviously staying put. So one or more of KAT, Mikal, OG, or Hart likely have to go.

“Leon made two big moves last year– one succeeded (KAT) and the other is looking like a mistake (Mikal).”

I beg to differ here. KAT was a good value deal, but I would hardly look at it as a “success.” He’s been a disaster as a defensive 5, as anticipated. We paid too much for Mikal, but he is a legit 2-way player. So neither deal was a success as far as I’m concerned.

So with the two statements above in mind, my choice would be to look to trade KAT…although I don’t expect that there will be many takers for the price that would make a trade worthwhile. Next choice would be to capitalize on Hart’s career year the way that the Celts capitalized on guys like Brogdan, Timelord, and Smart.

But I wouldn’t advocate anything until I have more information, meaning the following:
-How do we look with a healthy Mitch?
-How fast will Huk develop?
-How do we fare in the playoffs with a reasonably healthy roster?

As bad as our defense was in the first half vs. the C’s, I was just as alarmed about our offense. One thing you won’t see in the highlights is how effectively the Celts neutralized us (especially KAT but Brunson too…they both had 1 made FG in the first) by funneling us into the teeth of their defensive schemes. I believe that they had 4 blocked shots well before the end of the 1st Q, with at least two of them on Josh Hart going to the rim. Just looking through the play-by-play for the first Q, there were a bunch of terrible possessions that ended with a bad look from someone like Precious or Hart. Bridges was the only guy who could get decent looks and he missed 5 of them, not including a 52-ft fling.

“It is possible that IF (with capital letters) Mitch is healthy, our best lineup is without KAT. The dynamics would be totally different, as we would return to the brickfest of yesteryear, with Mitch and Hart catching as many offensive rebounds as possible while Brunson is doing heroics. On the other hand, we could have a really tight defensive team, which can be demoralizing for the opponents. The kind of team we saw when we just traded for OG.”

I honestly think that OG is very good but not “demoralizing” as a defensive 4, nor is Hart as a defender at any position. And so long as Brunson is out there, there is a weak link, which puts a ceiling on what the defense can be.

That’s why I think we should be less concerned about being an excellent defense and more concerned with being good enough to win the possession battle against the better teams. I don’t think Mitch-OG-Hart-Mikal-Brunson does that, but we will definitely find out once Mitch gets back…I would expect Thibs to have that lineup as part of his stock rotation.

“lol, at least Quick plays a different position. Barnes, RJ, and Ingram are all big wings who can’t shoot and want the ball in their hands.”

True, missed that part! But we definitely agree on the wtf is Masai doing part. He’s been going all Mad Hatter lately.

“doogie been done dirty by dirty neuro-atypical doesn’t like farting in public but public forum begs to differ; has been to niagra falls but not sure if it was the us or canada side to which beeks naturally replies no more goddamn jerky beef the partys over but forgot the less-talented but alive belushi was dressed like a gorilla and ended up in a michael cage who obvs stole the rebounding title from oak in 88

in short its time he rebrand as downton doogie brown and post the same dumb shit but with a british accent so we can call alec burks by his porn name frank fitts”

Would fool most but to the discerning eye clearly a cheap imitation.