PG: Knicks lose to Pacers - Thibs is a Terrorist

[Wildcat]

Reading the board silently. This whole topic hilarious to me. We mad at the coach that's made us relevant again because our star chasing FO gave him a 6 man roster.

Trial by fire for the rookies or shift Hart to the bench for Ariel to strengthen the bench. There are teams in worse shape playing worse players. 6.5 man rotation is unacceptable this early in. As much of a Thibs defender I am, he's failing in his defensive schemes and sub patterns. He needs to get out of his own way.

[WargamesX]

I am starting to think this team isn’t that good. Smh

[Fury]

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[Richard4444]

It's not surprising to see Thibs not giving minutes to the rookies.

The team is already awful at the defense and rookies should make the defense worse because they are not used to defending at the NBA level and playing according to Thibs schemes.

Kolek is not an immediate solution. He has a small frame and should be a target for the other teams. Especially right now when the team looks kind of lost at the defensive end.

Huk is not solving the minute distribution issue. He is only an option for the Sims"s spot in the rotation. Besides he already played almost 30 regular season minutes and did not score yet. We can not expect too much out of him right now.

Pacome as a wing with good size can play for some minutes to rest the starting unit. I suspect Thibs is waiting for easier games to test him.

I expect Ryan to get minutes. Only lack of conditioning or lack of training with the team could explain not be playing right now.

[mpharris36]

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/photo/1'

come back to us Mikal!

[Chanel Bomber]

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Rim protection numbers like FG% at the rim only refer to that, FG% at the rim.

You can have weak rim protection once opposing players get to the rim, it doesn't necessarily have an outsize impact on your defense if opposing players struggle to get to the rim. A lack of deterrence at the rim certainly weakens the defense, but it is not a death sentence.

Currently, Towns has a defensive EPM rating of -0.2, which suggests he has had a mildly negative impact defensively. Which of course is far from ideal, especially from a center. He's third-worst on the team after Brunson and Sims. So, not a complete liability, but not good either.

But we always knew that Towns wasn't a rim protector. It's just not part of his skill set.

Which is why this defense will only function if our perimeter defense tightens up. We know Brunson's a liability despite his commitment because of his size, so we need Bridges to step up and play strong defense, which he hasn't done yet. OG's doing his part, so Mikal and Hart are the two variables that will decide how our defense performs moving forward.

So long as KAT plays the 5, we need to prevent dribble penetration or easy rolls to the basket from the perimeter. The answers are schematic but also rely on defensive commitment from the players. I hope we can see some progress before defaulting to Precious or Mitch at the 5.

[j4remi]

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The Athletic has a "what's going on with the Knicks' defense" article and it points out a few instances where bad perimeter defense forces KAT out of position and makes him look to blame. The article mainly locks in on perimeter defense, communication, and chemistry...which I personally think tracks.

I've mentioned signs of communication issues in a couple of recaps, and Thibs teams have a pattern of starting seasons sloppy but rounding into shape around the end of December. Part of that is that Thibodeau won't adjust without multiple game samples of even the most glaring problems. But the other is just that every time we change the rotation, defenders have to adjust to each other's habits...no one has an excuse for how often our on-ball guys have gone under screens though, especially Mikal and Hart.

[Wildcat]

It's not surprising to see Thibs not giving minutes to the rookies.

The team is already awful at the defense and rookies should make the defense worse because they are not used to defending at the NBA level and playing according to Thibs schemes.

Kolek is not an immediate solution. He has a small frame and should be a target for the other teams. Especially right now when the team looks kind of lost at the defensive end.

Huk is not solving the minute distribution issue. He is only an option for the Sims"s spot in the rotation. Besides he already played almost 30 regular season minutes and did not score yet. We can not expect too much out of him right now.

Pacome as a wing with good size can play for some minutes to rest the starting unit. I suspect Thibs is waiting for easier games to test him.

I expect Ryan to get minutes. Only lack of conditioning or lack of training with the team could explain not be playing right now.

It's 9 games in. Thibs want to win the 4th, but can't win the 4th because we're 9 games in and everyone is gassed. 3 point shots are flat because they're gassed. There are better ways to manage these minutes. You want the starters to go the distance in the 4th? Then have the bulk of their rest in the 2nd and 3rd quarters with the occasion hot hand staying in. You can't tell me a Kolek or a Dadiet or a Hulk loses you a game if they play 4 or 5 minutes.

[JayTWill]

Poor defense is not a good excuse for not playing a rookie when we gave up value for 34/35 year old Bogey knowing his defense was terrible and continued to play him while his defense and offense was terrible. He was simply given more time with the hope he would improve. Why can't a rookie be given that same chance when the team's depth is so thin?

There is no rhyme or reason to Thibs' decisions sometimes. I have a difficult time figuring out why he would play Pacome in the first game against the Celtics and then bench him for the next month. Why bring Huk instead of Sims that one game and then bench Huk after playing some good minutes? Why bring in Kolek to play 2 random minutes in the first half and then sit him for the rest of the game?

What does that even accomplish other than f'ing with them mentally? I can understand if he was completely against playing rookies or completely against playing bad defenders or negative impact players but his decision making is all over the place sometimes.

For example some people are waiting for the return of Precious and I can't understand why when he was the same guy collecting DNP's at the end of last season while Hart was playing full games. How does he go from single digit minutes to 40+ minutes to zero minutes to back into the rotation again? There has to be options in between the extreme that can useful to the team.

I truly don't understand how Thibs makes his decisions other than possibly doing what makes him most comfortable in the moment.