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Knicks Morning News (2024.11.07)


  • Trae Young tells New York fans to go home after Hawks’ win – ESPN
    [ESPN] – Thu, 07 Nov 2024 04:19:00 GMT
    1. Trae Young tells New York fans to go home after Hawks’ win
    2. Fantasy Basketball Pickups: Thats Zaccharie Risachers music
    3. Jalen Brunson, Knicks fall short in brutal late-game collapse against Hawks
    4. Zaccharie Risacher goes off for career high 33-points in win against Knicks
    5. Hawks defeat New York Knicks 121-116 in Risachers breakout game


  • New York Knicks vs. Atlanta Hawks Live Score and Stats – November 6, 2024 Gametracker – CBS Sports
    [CBS Sports] – Thu, 07 Nov 2024 03:00:10 GMT

    New York Knicks vs. Atlanta Hawks Live Score and Stats – November 6, 2024 Gametracker


  • The Knicks are better than their so-so start and theyll figure it out – New York Post
    [New York Post] – Wed, 06 Nov 2024 12:00:00 GMT
    1. The Knicks are better than their so-so start and theyll figure it out
    2. Knicks move up slightly in Week 2 Power Rankings
    3. Knicks Notes: Getting Karl-Anthony Towns more involved, plus what’s next for the roster
    4. The New York Knicks have a serious roster problem (and everyone knows it)
    5. Resurgence of the Knicks: Analyzing the Teams Journey through the 2024 Season


  • Game Thread: Knicks at Hawks, November 6, 2024 – Posting and Toasting
    [Posting and Toasting] – Thu, 07 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT
    1. Game Thread: Knicks at Hawks, November 6, 2024
    2. New York Knicks @ Atlanta Hawks Odds
    3. Trae Young’s injury update & 2 other X-factors as Hawks host Knicks
    4. Trae Young suffers rib sprain in loss to Celtics, joins long list of injured Hawks
    5. New York Knicks vs Atlanta Hawks Prediction NBA Picks 11/6/24


  • Analyst Rips Knicks ‘Irrelevant’ Trade – Sports Illustrated
    [Sports Illustrated] – Wed, 06 Nov 2024 16:45:00 GMT

    Analyst Rips Knicks ‘Irrelevant’ Trade


  • The Knicks werent supposed to be facing this kind of Eastern Conference – New York Post
    [New York Post] – Wed, 06 Nov 2024 12:41:00 GMT

    The Knicks werent supposed to be facing this kind of Eastern Conference


  • Victor Wembanyama stat is proof of Knicks shift after Karl-Anthony Towns trade – Daily Knicks
    [Daily Knicks] – Wed, 06 Nov 2024 17:50:00 GMT

    Victor Wembanyama stat is proof of Knicks shift after Karl-Anthony Towns trade


  • Knicks greatly need injured point guard back after bench dud vs. Rockets – Empire Sports Media
    [Empire Sports Media] – Wed, 06 Nov 2024 14:28:13 GMT

    Knicks greatly need injured point guard back after bench dud vs. Rockets


  • Cavaliers predicted to upset Knicks as No. 2 team in Eastern Conference – Sporting News
    [Sporting News] – Wed, 06 Nov 2024 14:58:27 GMT

    Cavaliers predicted to upset Knicks as No. 2 team in Eastern Conference


  • New York Knicks vs. Atlanta Hawks: live game updates, stats, play-by-play – Yahoo Sports
    [Yahoo Sports] – Thu, 07 Nov 2024 07:18:04 GMT

    New York Knicks vs. Atlanta Hawks: live game updates, stats, play-by-play


  • Report: 76ers Joel Embiid to make season debut Tuesday vs. Knicks – Sportsnet.ca
    [Sportsnet.ca] – Thu, 07 Nov 2024 00:50:00 GMT

    Report: 76ers Joel Embiid to make season debut Tuesday vs. Knicks

  • 89 replies on “Knicks Morning News (2024.11.07)”

    KAT is slowly winning me over.
    The Brunson-KAT PnR will become unstoppable over time, especially when Brunson pulls his head out of his ass.

    This team is way too Josh Hart-y for me. He’s basically a poor man’s Westbrook out there and we need to limit his ball dominance to get Bridges involved. I was not in favor of starting Achiuwa before but this might be a case of less is more.

    I’d rather not talk about the defense.

    This team just goes through the motion for 4 quarters. They refuse to get their hands dirty even for a minute. This isn’t a Thibs roster. Letting Risacher score 33 points and mostly ignoring him on defense while he is cooking you just shows a lack of urgency.

    The Suns are 7-1 and have a top 10 defensive rsting starting Devin Booker, Bradley Beal and the great rim protector Nurkic.

    Yeah, this team is playing like a bunch of fat cats, with no sense of urgency. In their wins, they win on talent alone.

    At least we’re not the Sixers. I hope we don’t end up wishing that we were the Sixers.

    Since there has been talk that Thibs may try playing KAT at the 4 and Mitch at the 5 when he returns, it would be nice to test it out now with Huk at the 5. Thibs just needs to loosen up and experiment more and see what clicks.

    Are we still reporting what Cam Reddish does? He had 15/6 last night in 26 minutes off the bench, on good shooting.

    I’m really not expecting Thibs to put Mitch next to KAT, but maybe. I think he did play KAT and Sims together briefly last night, but Sims played the four, so that’s not the same at all.

    The loss in Houston was bad, this is worse because the Hawks aren’t good.

    I target game-20 for real takes but so far no good, Brunson is playing like Thibs is coaching: they’re not adapting*.

    It’s still early, let’s see.

    * I think JB will do it, I’m more skeptical about Thibs.

    I don’t think there is a lack of urgency. They’re hesitant because they don’t know what they should be doing. They’re unprepared and confused. This is usually Thibs’ strength but shocking the whole ecosystem of the team on the eve of training camp basically reset the stage.

    This team is not well conceived or easy fitting. Thibs has a tremendous amount of work to do and it seems like he’s tackling it one piece at a time. The first domino is the KAT-Brunson foundation and that’s taking a little longer to develop than expected because Brunson is surprisingly whack. Unless you have 18 hour practices I don’t know how you expect them to get Brunson and KAT gelled, get Bridges involved, and scheme a defense in the first month of the season. Of course they’re getting by on talent right now.

    Leon did it again. This is 2021 with a higher floor, except he doesn’t have Scott Perry’s carefully accumulated pick stash to bail him out this time. The man knows nothing about team building. Draft picks? Fuck ’em. Cost? Who cares. Fit? Let Thibs figure it out. It was an accident that the January Knicks were perfectly conceived. This collection of players is an ill fitting mess.

    Our coach should not be under fire. There are threes to be shot if players would pull the trigger. And if it looks this bad under him, it’s going to look a lot worse under someone else.

    This is the second game in a row where the opponent ran the same basic, vanilla play over and over again and the Knicks were powerless to stop it and never made an adjustment. Against Houston, it was: spread the floor, dump the ball to Sengun. We got roasted on that a million times. Last night it was set a high screen that obliterates Mikal Bridges, drive to the basket to cause Towns to come help, then layup/easy pass/offensive rebound because Towns is out of position.

    Maybe our defensive personnel is just that bad, but I’m not impressed with the in-game coaching I have seen.

    Odd part about last night is the Hawks only shot 45% overall and the Knicks killed them from the 3pt line. Hawks did grab a bunch of offensive rebs but overall Knicks are 9th in defensive reb % so that really hasn’t been a problem.

    The Bucks and Sixers are both 7 games back, 7 games into the season. That’s hard for a tanking team to pull off, and these guys are all-in.

    Agree with most everything posted so far this morning, but I think this Macri quote is a good one:

    ‘Intellectually realizing an adjustment period is in store is very different than seeing it play out in front of our eyes, warts and all. “Give it time” loses a little more oomph after each additional loss.’

    Last night it was set a high screen that obliterates Mikal Bridges, drive to the basket to cause Towns to come help, then layup/easy pass/offensive rebound because Towns is out of position.

    But how is this not 100% a Bridges and Towns problem? Donte never got obliterated on screens like this and Hartenstein was never consistently in a terrible position, so I think Thibs knows how to scheme this stuff.

    There’s so many holes in the dike right now, he can’t plug em all at once.

    And today’s Edwards quote about Mikal, since we are all a bit worried about the lad:

    “Another trend worth monitoring — and not for the good — is Bridges’ 3-point shooting. Bridges has shot 37 percent from 3 on about six attempts per game. However, when you look a bit deeper, not all is as well as it appears to be. The bulk of Bridges’ efficiency from 3 is coming from the corners, where he is shooting 59 percent on those 3.1 attempts per game. On above-the-break 3s, Bridges is converting just 16.7 percent of his 3.4 attempts per game. That’s a bit concerning given all the Knicks invested in the talented wing.”

    36-year-old Kevin Durant is second in the NBA in minutes per game at 39.0. The top minutes-per-game guy on the Knicks is Mikal Bridges at 37.4 (sixth in the NBA overall).

    Cam Reddish is still playing in the NBA?

    He’s constantly hurt. That was one of several reasons he hasn’t blossomed.

    Yeah, I think he’s played 91 games out of a total of 173 possible (52.6 percent) over the past two full seasons and the beginning of this one.

    There’s so many holes in the dike right now, he can’t plug em all at once.

    Like I always say, you can usually get away with one bad defender, but if you have 2 or more the problems start compounding. The sum of the whole becomes greater than the parts. We need Bridges to play plus defense or we are screwed and will be forced to move Towns to PF and put Mitch in there. Not that that’s the end of the world. Towns and Gobert played surpisingly well together, but the goal was to play 5 out, maximize spacing and Towns at C and not do what the T-Wolves did.

    But how is this not 100% a Bridges and Towns problem? Donte never got obliterated on screens like this and Hartenstein was never consistently in a terrible position, so I think Thibs knows how to scheme this stuff.

    Sure, but if something isn’t working you’d think there would be some effort in-game to make an adjustment. Throw SOME kind of different wrinkle at the opponent. Right now it feels like we’re just throwing “rock” every time and the opponent has figured this out and keeps throwing “paper.” We’re getting cooked by rudimentary plays.

    The personnel might not be ideal, but for these last two games this looks like a poorly coached team to me, and I don’t really have strong feelings about Thibs one way or another. I think he’s a pretty good coach, I’m not anti-Thibs. He’s not exactly crushing it this year so far. The team seems out of sync and is playing below its talent level.

    Oh, and fuck Trea Young!

    Agreed lol…but at the same time his heel turn is entertaining. It’s different from Reggie. My hate for him comes from a worse place. With Trea, it’s a competition thing- and he keeps backing it up. I don’t enjoy the losing, but I enjoy the back and forth

    I expcted a slow start to the season. That’s why my win total prediction was so low (10-10 to start would be no shock to me), but I’m seeing more than just guys not on the same page yet (if it was just that it wouldn’t worry me). The offense should be great eventually. It’s the defense that is more troubling. Bridges has not looked good on defense and KAT has looked more like the KAT we were afraid we were getting on defense.

    Brunson + KAT + a below par Bridges is a problem on defense.

    how do you play 5 out with josh hart in the lineup…he is or has made himself into a non-entity with respect to shooting from beyond the arc…it seems clear that each team is happy to leave him sitting alone outside the arc..it serves no purpose to have him standing out there…

    how do you play 5 out with josh hart in the lineup…he is or has made himself into a non-entity with respect to shooting from beyond the arc…it seems clear that each team is happy to leave him sitting alone outside the arc..it serves no purpose to have him standing out there…

    Josh Hart is not an ideal 3 point shooter, but not everyone has to be a 40% shooter to play 5 out. He just has to do a better job of taking and hitting open ones. He’s done that in the past.

    Despite shooting only 30% from 3 Hart has a TS% just below 66%. He’s 2nd on the team with just under 9 rebs and 5 asts per game. Hart has played great so far.

    Knicks are 20th in defensive rating and that’s still largely due to the game vs Boston. In the 6 games since Boston I assume they’ve actually been close to a Top 10 defense despite how bad they’ve looked the past couple of games. Like I mentioned earlier too Hawks overall didn’t shoot that well last night.

    Right now it feels like we’re just throwing “rock” every time and the opponent has figured this out and keeps throwing “paper.” We’re getting cooked by rudimentary plays.

    You render me powerless by using my own old analogy of Thibs’ in-game coaching against me.

    All I’ll say is if I were Thibs and I called timeout I’d probably have a 30 minute agenda of problems I wanted to address, so I want to give him some grace if he can’t get to it all.

    And another is that it’s not terrible to let your guys fail in this situation until they figure it out.

    I really doubt he’s ignoring it. These are his keystone habits.

    Hart leads the league in 2fg%.

    Our DRtg last night was 122.2. It was bad.

    I didn’t think Mikal was as bad navigating screens. Doesn’t mean he was good.

    Lots of defensive miscommunication.

    Towns doesn’t step up to help soon enough. He doesn’t put his arms up all the time. Maybe he’s trying to balance shot blocking with rebounding, but he’s bad at it. Mitch is fantastic at it.

    Maxey out a couple of weeks so looks like he’ll miss the Knicks game next week. Going into last night he was leading the league with 41 mins per game!

    Well, this is horrible. All my fears about Bridges were true. He’s not even a plus defender anymore, let alone elite. Did he die on every screen instantly back in Phoenix? Was he always just horribly overrated? Is Thibs somehow directing him to suck? I don’t know. What I do know is that burning our asset war chest on this guy is catastrophic. All the surplus value we got from shrewd deals like Brunson and DDV’s was squandered on an average NBA player. We spent 5 1RP on a guy who’s probably worth about as much as we paid for Hart.

    Was Bridges really the target all along? That’s incredibly damning, because his entire ’23-’24 season was fucking awful on both ends. Were we really fooled by a couple hundred minutes at the end of ’22-’23?

    Maybe it’s just bad luck, and our timeline for the big move ran out 10 seconds before MIL’s implosion made Giannis available. We’d have lost him to OKC or whatever anyway, so I guess I can’t complain too much.

    We ended up with the Amare/Melo Knicks again. Two one-way stars who don’t defend at all. One doesn’t pass the ball and the other doesn’t stay healthy. Locked in for years and years with a minimal supporting cast. Bridges is the new Raymond Felton, a perfectly mediocre player.

    There’s no ‘gelling’ out of your designated PoA defender getting owned by every basic screening action. We bought a lemon and there are no refunds. We’re the Democrats of the NBA, and like the Democrats, it’ll probably be a lot more than 4 years before we get another shot.

    Yesterday i didn’t have any joy watching the game, at the end i was just watching to see if we could win it. I think this will get better with time, as you all are saying, but right now this is painful to watch.

    Did he die on every screen instantly back in Phoenix? Was he always just horribly overrated?

    I’m genuinely curious if anyone can speak to this, because I never watched the Phoenix Suns. Hell I never even watched Bridges in Brooklyn. I was excited that we got him based on his reputation. Is this stuff in his career film or is he just off to a rocky start? This doesn’t seem like the kind of thing you suddenly develop like Ted Stryker’s drinking problem. Teams are attacking him as if there’s been a book on him for years.

    Despite shooting only 30% from 3 Hart has a TS% just below 66%. He’s 2nd on the team with just under 9 rebs and 5 asts per game. Hart has played great so far.

    He is the poor man’s Russell Westbrook. He plays well but he has the ball too damn much.

    Is there a site that tracks how many minutes the ball is in someone’s hands? Hart has to be 2nd among the starters.

    I think that podcast has him thinking this is his and Jalen’s team.

    I’m genuinely curious if anyone can speak to this, because I never watched the Phoenix Suns. Hell I never even watched Bridges in Brooklyn.

    Same.

    With OG I can see his D, even if he hasn’t been perfect overall in every way.

    With Mikal’s D, I need some help.

    I get the need for a few of months time to perfect defensive and offensive schemes, -so we must cut both Thibs and players some slack. Perfectly cool with that. This is why both Cleveland and Boston type losses are perfectly fine till ~ February 2025.

    However, they know what they don’t know, and what pisses me off is that they’re still faling to put together a string of simple offensive sets while defining player roles in 4th quarters to secure wins against sub par opponent while they’re solving the big picture structural problems.

    Learning comlex schemes and developing chemistry are not mutually exclusive to beating an effing Hawks team that lost to Wizards twice already when you’re up 5 with a minute and a half left. In Houston, it was a one point game with 5 minutes left.

    It really pisses me off that the offense was in scramble mode during crunch time in back to back games and I have to hear Dominique Wilkins state the obvious. Scramble mode is code for emotional, reactionary and unprepared offense.

    I am concerned about the defense. Last night felt like a rec ball game in a lot of ways. Still early though and 47-52 still feels like the outcome.

    I guess if you’re looking for positives about Bridges’ defense he’s averaging 1.4 stls per game.

    I like OG and he’s clearly a plus defender, but it’s not accurate that the Knicks had a defensive problem that needed to be chased before they got him. (*) Passed the eye test, best defense in the association in the 2023 playoffs.

    If it’s not a 5-out modern killer offense (which they aren’t going to have with this Mikal), I gotta confess that it’s kind of puzzling what exactly they’ve been chasing the last 18 months. And now they’ve cleared the asset chest.

    Hart’s playing phenomenal Hart ball, although I think the Westbrook comparison is interesting. The big difference is that Westbrook was/is a ball hog looking to score at all times. The problem with Hart is that when the ball moves it will almost always find him, as defenses ignore him so he’s all alone. And he doesn’t look to score.

    It feels like Thibs needs to make a plan for this. Like “Shoot the three” and “Drive the ball” are clearly two. But that’s all he has now. The whole team needs to know to do one or two things when the ball lands in his hands. Especially since “Shoot the three” isn’t really optimal, and “Drive the ball” seems to end up with a jump-pass horror or other turnover as often as anything else, at least in the halfcourt sets.

    Scramble mode is code for emotional, reactionary and unprepared offense

    I think it’s code for playing 4-on-5.

    Let’s look at what actually happened from the moment we were up 110-105 (you can check any of these plays at the link below):

    2:26 [110-105] Josh Hart is left open and dared to take a 3. He misses.

    1:48 [110-108] No one is guarding Josh Hart, who sets a screen for Brunson. Both defenders stay on Brunson who dribbles into a crowd and kicks to OG for a well contested 3.

    1:20 [110-110] The Knicks clear out for an effective Brunson Towns PnR, Brunson gets to the line.

    0:53 [111-112] The Knicks clear out again and Brunson gets Towns a good look for a corner 3 that he misses.

    0:43 [111-114] The Knicks inbound to Brunson. No one is guarding Hart at the 3 point line. The extra defender cuts off Brunson’s path to the rim and he rushes a stepback 3.

    0:26 [111-117] Brunson beats Johnson cleanly to get to the paint. Trae Young (who has been hiding on Josh Hart the whole 4Q) completely abandons Hart to seal off the lane. Brunson kicks out to Bridges for a well contested 3.

    THIS IS NOT 5 OUT!

    His stats are great but he is killing the crunch-time offense.

    https://www.nba.com/game/nyk-vs-atl-0022400171/play-by-play?period=Q4

    Guys, the Hart/Westbrook comparison is way off.

    Hart is wing Draymond Green. He does all the non-scoring stuff at a high level and he’s the guy who needs to shoot just well enough to keep defenses honest so that the real weapons can do the damage.

    Hart is actually a less bad shooter than Dray, but he’s at a position where the standard for shooting is higher, and he also makes consistently terrible decisions on when to shoot.

    I personally am not going to blame Josh Hart for the lack of offensive pop, creativity, and athleticism of OG and Mikal.

    Is there a site that tracks how many minutes the ball is in someone’s hands? Hart has to be 2nd among the starters.

    Yeah, the NBA does: https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches?TeamID=1610612752&dir=D&sort=TIME_OF_POSS

    And you’re right, he is 2nd on the team in how long he has the ball. But, that seems like it has more to do with how many times he gets the ball because he doesn’t hold onto it for long: https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches?TeamID=1610612752&dir=D&sort=AVG_SEC_PER_TOUCH

    THIS IS NOT 5 OUT!

    That’s my point but there is more blame to share than just one player’s weakness effecting the whole. Especially since that player was on the court in cruch time in prior years when JB was an elite closer.

    This is on Thibs. He cotrols all the pieces and what role they play. Fix closing games first. He can put Hart in the dunker spot or as a screensetter, use Mikal as the creator and find JB while defense is scrabling or just swap Hart with Deuce at the end of the games for now if we have to run the KAT/JB PnR.

    Scramble mode to me means make shit up as you go along and hope talent or a random outcome wins instead of thoughtful strategic plan based on highest probability of success.

    @KnicksMuse
    NBA Offensive Rating Leaders
    #1 — Cavaliers (9-0)
    #2 — Celtics (7-2)
    #3 — Warriors (7-1)
    #4 — Knicks (3-4)

    This tells us that we have a lot of talent on this team and they’re still an elite offense while they’re figuring it out…just can’t close and finish off bum teams right now, that find themselves in close games vs NY because we can’t defend for shit.

    I’m not blaming Josh Hart I’m just highlighting how we’re being defended when you guys call it scramble mode. It is a scramble. It’s a scramble to find someone other than Josh who is open.

    He is playing well but he needs the ball a lot to be effective and we don’t want him to have the ball 150% of the time that KAT or Bridges does (thanks for that, This Chicanery). This is not the Jalen & Josh show. It is, actually, but it shouldn’t be.

    Josh should be winning 6th Man of the Year awards doing his Russell Westbrook impression when the big boys rest.

    Josh should be winning 6th Man of the Year awards doing his Russell Westbrook impression when the big boys rest.

    We should have thought about that before we went all in on a team where the only viable starting lineups include Hart.

    Scramble mode to me means make shit up as you go along and hope talent or a random outcome wins instead of thoughtful strategic plan based on highest probability of success.

    And I’m telling you to look at those plays he called scramble mode. They’re actually thoughtful strategic plans that got blown up by a defense that was free to leave a man unguarded.

    Thibs did exactly what you suggested. He used Hart as a screener. They doubled Brunson. He put Hart in the dunkers spot. They doubled Brunson. He put him on the other side of the court. They doubled Brunson.

    The scramble is what happens when the other team has a free safety who can blow up your plan.

    OKC is playing pretty poor offensively this season.

    SGA (26%) and Caruso (14%) are shooting so poorly from 3PT range that it’s skewing the numbers a bit. If they shot what they did last year, they’d add about 5 points a game to the ORtg, they’d be sitting at #10 instead of #20 in the standings.

    I’ve been watching their full-game highlights so I can’t say if Shai’s issues are a matter of shot selection or what, but since Caruso basically doesn’t create his own 3PT attempts (like, at all) I’m guessing that this is a short-term slump.

    They’re going to finish top 10 in ORtg, and probably finish top-2 in DRtg. Still on pace for 71 wins even with the huge hole in shooting.

    (Again, if they flip Williams and Hartenstein for Giannis, the season is 100% over.)

    (Again, if they flip Williams and Hartenstein for Giannis, the season is 100% over.)

    It already is, the only question being whether it’s them or BOS winning the finals.

    Philadelphia 76ers All-Star Tyrese Maxey is expected to miss a couple of weeks because of a right hamstring injury, sources told ESPN on Thursday.

    again, tyrese maxey does not deserve this…sixers are gonna start off in a pretty big hole…

    still expect them to be in the playoffs though…

    Defensive personnel… The Suns are a Top 10 defense and don’t have a bunch of great defenders plus have a non rim protecting Center in Nurkic. Thibs needs to coach or get Jay Wright out of New Jersey.

    Forget the offense!

    We have to get past the fantasy where everyone is 40% or better from 3. Josh Hart has his frustrating moments where he passes up an open look, but he’s a touch over 34% lifetime. That’s good enough as the weakest link given everything else he does.

    The problem on offense is NOT Josh Hart.

    The problem is too much dribbling (Brunson) and the fact that these guys are just getting used to each other. We have the 4th best offense in the league despite not having enough scoring on the bench (which Hart will not help if moved there) and multiple new pieces. Forget the offense, before it’s over the offense will be elite.

    The problem is 100% the DEFENSE.

    We knew rim protection and rebounding could be an issue.

    We knew Brunson could be an issue.

    We knew the Brunson/KAT combo could be a bigger issue.

    We were hoping OG, Mikal and Hart together would solidify the perimeter and also help when necessary to give us a solid if not great defense. So far that’s not happening. The parade of easy shots in the interior and 2nd attempts is a major problem that will be harder to fix because of the players we have. They are attacking our weaknesses successfully.

    If we make a change to the defense (Precious or Mitch starts) and put Hart on the bench, that’s not going to help the bench issues we have and it will end 5 out because Mitch can’t do anything outside and Precious does not have to be guarded either. The offense will suffer.

    I hate to put it all on Mikal’s defense because we knew we had questions to answer even if he was playing high level defense. But he does have to be better.

    We are going to see how much of this can be corrected with adjustments and more consistent effort, but maybe we need another trade that will involve Mitch and/or one of the young players.

    Defensive personnel… The Suns are a Top 10 defense and don’t have a bunch of great defenders plus have a non rim protecting Center in Nurkic.

    Great defenders are as great defenders do. I’d rather have someone who can navigate the simplest of screens over “great defender” Mikal Bridges.

    Remember how we were all worried about Mikal changing his shot and shooting quite horribly? He realized it and changed it back halfway through Game 1, and hasn’t looked back since.

    I suspect he’ll fix this, too.

    KAT is blocking shots here or there, but we are getting killed inside anyway because he’s out of position sometimes, doesn’t put his hands up, drops back on occasion when he shouldn’t and gives up an easy look, is sometimes too slow to recover etc.. It’s not all his fault, but we don’t necessarily need more blocked shots. Jokic doesn’t block shots and is not super quick, but he plays defense well enough to not be abused regularly and for Denver to win the title.

    I suspect he’ll fix this, too.

    How? It’s not like he experimented with changing his screen defending form to incorporate sprawling away like a leaf in the wind… he’s handling screens the way I would — eye test says he doesn’t get over them because he can’t.

    and it will end 5 out

    You can’t end something that never started, Strat.

    The definition of 5 out is when the opposing team needs to guard every player beyond the 3 pt line.

    So it’s nice that you think Josh Hart is good enough and gosh darn it people like him, but it is not 5 out until teams are afraid to leave him open.

    just made a neurology appointment bc this thread reads to me as ‘wrong things about basketball plus strat.’ josh is absolutely not the problem on offense despite his obvious flaws and he has in fact adjusted better than anyone to how best to play with the starters.

    mikal hasn’t been as good as hoped on d but the delta there isn’t the real story. if you were hoping for wingstopper magic you have the right to be disappointed in him so far but you also believed in magic, you take a sub replacement level (as a starter) defensive 5 and pair him with a bad guard defender and play drop all game and no level of wingosity is going to save your ass. kat at the 5 is 80pct of the issue with the defense and jalen is number 2. opponents are shooting 27-30 at the rim with kat as the closest defender which i don’t believe has ever happened to a 5 since the creation of synergy in any 30 shot sample, ever.

    josh is absolutely not the problem on offense

    I did not say Josh Hart was “the problem on offense.”

    I said he was a bigger reason than Thibs for our offense being in scramble mode down the stretch last night, and I provided the evidence to support it.

    I also said he is dominating the ball, which the evidence also supported.

    This team has 99 problems right now. Just bc I picked #47 to talk about doesn’t mean I said it’s the one thing holding us back.

    KAT has 7 blocks and it’s not like he’s blocking jump shots plus he also somehow has 5 steals so he’s not just standing there with his arms by his side. Not to mention he’s the main reason Knicks are still a top 10 defensive rebounding team so while he’s definitely not anywhere near the level defensively of iHart or Mitch there is something there to work with.

    I looked at the NBA schedule for today and it seems there are only three games and 5 of 6 teams are below 0.500. The lone exception is the Timberwolves at 4 and 3. The Bucks and Jazz are probably each licking their lips over their match up with each other. And all the games start at the same time. What is going on?

    …and just to be clear as I have also said things that may have led to assumptions related to Mr. Hart, I also don’t think he’s any huge problem, I just think there must be a way to help him improve on the things he doesn’t do so well, which is most things with the ball in the half-court set. So yeah, like Hubert, just remarking on #47.

    one positive, we’ve only played seven games so far…most teams are at 8 or 9 games played already…

    gotta figure getting precious back will help some…what everyone else has said about the team looking out of sorts…

    i’m really hoping this is not the actual mikal bridges experience, definitely expecting more…same with jalen…

    right now our backcourt is not that good…besides for that, we have a guard starting at power forward, and a power forward starting at center…

    i don’t think we start playing better than .500 ball until jalen gets his groove goin’…

    I watched some of the Warriors-Celtics game last night, and Thibs really needs to study some of that game film. I’ve never seen the Celtics look so out of sync on offense and a lot of that had to with the harrassing and swarming defense of Golden State.

    Granted they were missing Brown (and KP) but whatever Kerr has the 7-1 Warriors doing, it sure is working.

    Granted they were missing Brown (and KP) but whatever Kerr has the 7-1 Warriors doing, it sure is working.

    Sadly, it appears we simply don’t have the horses to compete with a PoA defense built around checks notes 36yo Steph Curry and Buddy Hield.

    opponents are shooting 27-30 at the rim with kat as the closest defender

    Without exaggeration, I think this is the most insane basketball statistic I have ever seen.

    opponents are shooting 27-30 at the rim with kat as the closest defender

    Without exaggeration, I think this is the most insane basketball statistic I have ever seen.

    Yikes. That’s crazy!

    if you were hoping for wingstopper magic you have the right to be disappointed in him so far but you also believed in magic, you take a sub replacement level (as a starter) defensive 5 and pair him with a bad guard defender and play drop all game and no level of wingosity is going to save your ass. kat at the 5 is 80pct of the issue with the defense and jalen is number 2.

    I may have underestimated the significance of swapping Randle for KAT defensively. The 5 is probably more important, but I know I’ve seen Bridges play high level D against multiple positions. Maybe I have selective memory. It’s not like I watch him every game. If they can’t adjust and figure this out, I’m not sure what the right move is, but I’m not a big fan of playing two bigs except maybe on rare occasions.

    Josh also has to be in there with this lineup because Mikal and OG are both poor rebounders.

    Josh also has to be in there with this lineup because Mikal and OG are both poor rebounders.

    Agreed. That’s been a big thing with why I want him to start. Precious or Mitch could get the boards also, but Josh does so much more. even though he’s not a very good 3 pointer shooter, he’s better than those other guys and is having the bounce back efficiency season I expected from him.

    Josh is 6′ 4″

    Precious is 6′ 9″

    Precious will make the Knicks lineup bigger and put people in proper spots

    Precious will make the Knicks lineup bigger and put people in proper spots

    Agreed, but we’ll also have less spacing, less playmaking, be less efficient and instead of being 30th in pace, we’ll be….. well I guess we’ll still be 30th but even worse. I’m not totally against taking a look at it, but it doesn’t seem ideal either.

    Julius with a decent 22 and 10 in a win, but I must say I don’t mind missing out on watching those 4 turnovers…

    Also the Bucks won going away with Giannis and Dame each going for over 30. Bobby Portis still their third best player…

    He’s worked his way back and is cleared to play, but Timelord with two consecutive DNP-CDs. Currently 4th on the deoth chart behind a rookie and a guy named Duop Reath, who is apparently a basketball player and not a member of the intergalactic senate. (Shouldn’t they at least put him out there for Reath’s 1 minute, if for no other reason to show contenders that he’s healthy? Healthy Timelord is one of the few interesting players on that entire roster).

    Julius with a decent 22 and 10 in a win, but I must say I don’t mind missing out on watching those 4 turnovers…

    watched a bit of the game, thankfully didn’t see those turnovers…did watch him on this one play where he kept knocking people over underneath the basket while he kept shooting, missing and rebounding until he finally scored…

    it was impressive to watch, not all the missing, but just how physical he was…

    Agreed, but we’ll also have less spacing, less playmaking, be less efficient

    Every problem you solve with this team creates another problem.

    Every problem you solve with this team creates another problem.

    The calls for Precious Achiuwa — which I do expect to be heeded — are a direct result of the rebounding deficiencies of OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges, who are poor rebounders even “down” a position.

    KAT is leading the association in DReb% and Josh Hart is one of the best rebounding 6-4 guys in association history … and they still have to chase rebounding. (*) Sigh.

    In terms of the two mentioned guys, I’m not quite exactly sure what the expectation could have possibly been. Their rebounding numbers are available for free within 10 seconds on BB-ref to the general public.

    (*) In much the same way as they’ve constructed things to have three “elite/excellent” wing defenders in Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, and Mikal Bridges — and still can’t defend.

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