PG: KNICKS 'Put A Spell' On The Wizards!!!

[sol537]

Kolek defense is always going to be a concern especially if we are going to trust him for playoff minutes...he was also pretty careless with the ball recently which I think to him pretty much being removed from the rotation. It also allows Clarkson a few more minutes and that is helpful for him because I think he's a player that needs to get into a rhythm.

I think ultimately is why you will see Shamet/Mitch alternating with the starters.

Yabu looked a bit better yesterday...he needs to contribute because we invested the little money we had on him being a rotational big.

With Yabu, I get a bit of iHart vibes. What I mean by that is that everyone hated iHart for the first 3 months of the season and thought he was soft and useless. Then it turned out he was nursing an achilles injury and was adjusting to the system. We all know how it went once he got right.

Yabu is probably out of game shape, but he's also nursing an injury and learning the system. He showed some fight last night and he's a tremendous screener. We need that. Hopefully it clicks for him both physically and mentally by December.

My boy needs to get into shape but he can help once he does.

Yabu needs to get in shape and get healthy. His screen setting is elite and his offensive rebounding hustle is good. Once he gets his 3pt shot down, he'll be an asset off the bench but he's got to improve his lateral movement and defensive awareness. I'm hoping that's going to come at some point...

[Guano]

Good game all around from everyone. Loved the flow.

Trouble is, the flow was all in the 2nd half. Ok,mostly.

My issue with this offense so far is this:

More assists? Good.
More threes, excellent.

What it SEEMS to do to my amateur eyes is that the offense is trying to get out on the break and hunt easy 3's before the transition defense is totally set. This is a good thing. Hardly unique, Knicks did it last year but there's more of it, that's good.

Getting Brunson off the ball more and Mikal on it more. Excellent idea, Thibs should have done it but he was a hidebound orc.

Forcing the P&R more, especially KAT and Brunson. - mixed bag here.

It seems like the offense is more focused on SPACING than cutting. I just wish it had both. It's nut that I feel like last year's Knicks cut way more, but that might be because Hart missed games.
Certainly the best player movement team the Knicks had was the Randle/OG/Brunson/Donte/Hart unit and even the part of the year Randle was hurt.


The negative is that the offense, to me, looks too deliberate and predictable in the half court, too easily scouted, no wrinkles, not enough screens and cutting.

What it LOOKS LIKE to me (and I'm negative as f*ck) is the ball comes up and it takes like 6-8 seconds for the pick to happen, KAT or anyone. The defense blitzs it, the Knicks swing it, the have to restart, and the ball swings the perimeter 90% of the time for a 3.
If the Knicks are on, they can beat mediocre and bad teams who beat themselves or Knicks out-talent them.

But even the sh*tty Wiz were dictating the flow with their defense vs the Knicks half court.

As of know, I'm not seeing anything in this offense that can succeed in the halfcourt in the playoffs when the game grinds down and the talent level keeps going up.

Are the Knicks trying to be the Pacers and just succeed mostly on pace? Newsflash, the Knicks don't have the depth of talent on the bench that Pacers team did.

Maybe it gets better. I'm not exactly seeing it. The 3's are good. The spacing is good when KAT plays the 5 (of course the KAT/Brunson defense is then terrible), I don't see that much pace. The half court offense just doesn't seem that special.

Only people with more range than you is Whitney and Mariah.


Were generating clean looks. My concern is Brunson and KAT taking less shots really a good thing. IDK.

Last year it felt like we worked real hard to get contested shots and other teams got a lot of clean looks. Cause there were times when watching this team last year was real rough. And losing to every good team really sucked. I know everyone is putting all stock into what we do in tbe playoffs which tbh I dont feel is completely fair to brown but when are fans ever fair amd reasonable(excluding me ofc). If brown has a better record against good teams this year going into the playoffs thats a success and there are other ways to judge a season. The regular season matters. Im not watching 82 to just kill time. Giving up the journey for the peak is not how we hike folks.

[thebuzzardman]

Nice easy feel good win that still doesn't really make me feel good about the team...

We are too talented for about two thirds of the league, there is just no way teams like the Wizards can hang with us on a regular basis. Our weaknesses never show in these games because we just overwhelm the opposition, especially at home. Yes, Landry Shamet will look servicable here but does anyone really think he can be our first guy off the bench against real competition (yes, Deuce will overtake him but his big role is a huge concern)? Does anyone really think that our interior defense with KAT will hold up against better opponents? It never has why should that change now? We have way too many short players out there that will present physical mismatches against bigger teams. With Brunson, Deuce, Clarkson, Shamet and even Hart we play 5 guys who are undersized for their position and bring physical limitations to the table. Out-energizing people like Hart did the last few games only goes so far. All of them are good and in case of the captain even great players but in total I feel this is too much too overcome in the long run. G.. forbid OG gets injured as he is basically our only sizable wing on both ends of the court.

Sure, we got plenty of stuff going for us and in the Eastern Conference talent alone will take them pretty far. But as the glass half empty guy that I am I would still be very worried about the long term projection of this roster with all its holes and its problems...

All this is my point exactly

[thebuzzardman]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Those Mikal numbers are THJr numbers

[GONYK]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Those Mikal numbers are THJr numbers

All of those except points would be THJ career highs. Doubling his current career highs in most cases.

[thebuzzardman]

I know this isn't the trade thread but I'd keep a close eye on Murphy out of NOP because if they keep floundering, Dumars could start trading again. I think inserting Murphy into the starting line-up over Shamet/Mitch would give us a great starting 5.

Then, you got Mitch, Deuce, Clarkson and Hart off the bench for the playoffs. A true 9-man rotation with a strong combo of defense/offense and flexibility based on the opponent. Though to get a guy like Murphy, we'd probably have to deal one or more of Hart, Mitch, or Deuce, etc.

For now, I like Shamet or Deuce in that starting line-up when Mitch is unavailable.

Who are you giving up

Isn’t Murphy making a lot of money?

[TheGreenArrow]

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[thebuzzardman]

Good game all around from everyone. Loved the flow.

Trouble is, the flow was all in the 2nd half. Ok,mostly.

My issue with this offense so far is this:

More assists? Good.
More threes, excellent.

What it SEEMS to do to my amateur eyes is that the offense is trying to get out on the break and hunt easy 3's before the transition defense is totally set. This is a good thing. Hardly unique, Knicks did it last year but there's more of it, that's good.

Getting Brunson off the ball more and Mikal on it more. Excellent idea, Thibs should have done it but he was a hidebound orc.

Forcing the P&R more, especially KAT and Brunson. - mixed bag here.

It seems like the offense is more focused on SPACING than cutting. I just wish it had both. It's nut that I feel like last year's Knicks cut way more, but that might be because Hart missed games.
Certainly the best player movement team the Knicks had was the Randle/OG/Brunson/Donte/Hart unit and even the part of the year Randle was hurt.


The negative is that the offense, to me, looks too deliberate and predictable in the half court, too easily scouted, no wrinkles, not enough screens and cutting.

What it LOOKS LIKE to me (and I'm negative as f*ck) is the ball comes up and it takes like 6-8 seconds for the pick to happen, KAT or anyone. The defense blitzs it, the Knicks swing it, the have to restart, and the ball swings the perimeter 90% of the time for a 3.
If the Knicks are on, they can beat mediocre and bad teams who beat themselves or Knicks out-talent them.

But even the sh*tty Wiz were dictating the flow with their defense vs the Knicks half court.

As of know, I'm not seeing anything in this offense that can succeed in the halfcourt in the playoffs when the game grinds down and the talent level keeps going up.

Are the Knicks trying to be the Pacers and just succeed mostly on pace? Newsflash, the Knicks don't have the depth of talent on the bench that Pacers team did.

Maybe it gets better. I'm not exactly seeing it. The 3's are good. The spacing is good when KAT plays the 5 (of course the KAT/Brunson defense is then terrible), I don't see that much pace. The half court offense just doesn't seem that special.

Only people with more range than you is Whitney and Mariah.


Were generating clean looks. My concern is Brunson and KAT taking less shots really a good thing. IDK.

Last year it felt like we worked real hard to get contested shots and other teams got a lot of clean looks. Cause there were times when watching this team last year was real rough. And losing to every good team really sucked. I know everyone is putting all stock into what we do in tbe playoffs which tbh I dont feel is completely fair to brown but when are fans ever fair amd reasonable(excluding me ofc). If brown has a better record against good teams this year going into the playoffs thats a success and there are other ways to judge a season. The regular season matters. Im not watching 82 to just kill time. Giving up the journey for the peak is not how we hike folks.

Word

[HEZI]

We are mediocre across the board and the schedule has been pretty easy so far. I think with the core group being together a full year and having gone deeper into the playoffs last year, expectations need to be higher even for regular season success. There should be progress and they should look better. So far that hasn’t been the case

[thebuzzardman]

Read on Twitter

Read on Twitter

Those Mikal numbers are THJr numbers

All of those except points would be THJ career highs. Doubling his current career highs in most cases.

Yeah, I’m just being a dick

[3toheadmelo]

We are mediocre across the board and the schedule has been pretty easy so far. I think with the core group being together a full year and having gone deeper into the playoffs last year, expectations need to be higher even for regular season success. There should be progress and they should look better. So far that hasn’t been the case

Yep. There's nothing wrong with expecting more from a team that just went to the ECF. We've looked massively disappointing against teams we should be beating with ease. A win against a tanking team isn't moving me honestly.

[HEZI]

We are mediocre across the board and the schedule has been pretty easy so far. I think with the core group being together a full year and having gone deeper into the playoffs last year, expectations need to be higher even for regular season success. There should be progress and they should look better. So far that hasn’t been the case

Yep. There's nothing wrong with expecting more from a team that just went to the ECF. We've looked massively disappointing against teams we should be beating with ease. A win against a tanking team isn't moving me honestly.

Yeah and why are we still having slow starts? Last night Wizards jumped on us early and we needed to fight our way back. If it wasn’t for the bench we probably lose to the Wizards but Josh Hart and Clarkson pretty much saved us. Shouldn’t have to rely on the bench to save you against the Wizards. It’s the defense it’s just so bad. Not sure how we fix it and don’t think we can with the roster as is but it’s so bad

[Capn'O]

Flaming Mo? Good to see you around. Have one on the house

[Gravy]

Two good games in a row for Clarkson, not sure how much I can trust it. Reddish had a couple good games here also.

How do the Wizards keep tanking and never get any better, they are so bad

Ask the Brooklyn Nets. They know.

They got our picks, I'm not going there yet lol

[KnixinSix]

CLARKSON HIVE WE UP!

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If we end up with good Clarkson on more nights than bad Clarkson, this team is going to be very,very good.

We have a pretty good defensive rotation we can put out there when we have a big lead.

Clarkson/Hart
McBride/Hart
Bridges
OG
Mitch

That is a stellar defensive lineup to guard the 3 especially

[KnixinSix]

We are mediocre across the board and the schedule has been pretty easy so far. I think with the core group being together a full year and having gone deeper into the playoffs last year, expectations need to be higher even for regular season success. There should be progress and they should look better. So far that hasn’t been the case

Yep. There's nothing wrong with expecting more from a team that just went to the ECF. We've looked massively disappointing against teams we should be beating with ease. A win against a tanking team isn't moving me honestly.

System acclimation is a real thing. I can't believe he some of you dont factor that into the equation when making judgements. Mike Brown himself said around end of November is when the system should really become more 2nd nature for the group.

[KnixinSix]

With Yabu, I get a bit of iHart vibes. What I mean by that is that everyone hated iHart for the first 3 months of the season and thought he was soft and useless. Then it turned out he was nursing an achilles injury and was adjusting to the system. We all know how it went once he got right.

Yabu is probably out of game shape, but he's also nursing an injury and learning the system. He showed some fight last night and he's a tremendous screener. We need that. Hopefully it clicks for him both physically and mentally by December.

My boy needs to get into shape but he can help once he does.

Yabu needs to get in shape and get healthy. His screen setting is elite and his offensive rebounding hustle is good. Once he gets his 3pt shot down, he'll be an asset off the bench but he's got to improve his lateral movement and defensive awareness. I'm hoping that's going to come at some point...

He came in grossly overweight and it is clearly affecting his game.

The last game it looked like he already shedded a bit of that bad weight.

He still has a ways to go though to be back in optimal shape.

[nedleeds]

We look amazing ...








against the wizards every year for the last half decade

[JayTWill]

We are mediocre across the board and the schedule has been pretty easy so far. I think with the core group being together a full year and having gone deeper into the playoffs last year, expectations need to be higher even for regular season success. There should be progress and they should look better. So far that hasn’t been the case

I would have higher expectations if they were building upon an identity they already built but it's a new coach installing a new system with a group that honestly didn't even seem to have an identity last year. A year of the core together and we still don't have a clear and obvious starting 5, the two players the team is built around formed zero chemistry last year, the bench hasn't been massively upgraded, there was no time invested into the young players and we still don't know definitively know if KAT is better for this tea at the 4 or the 5.

Our core group actually played worse together over time including the postseason and the same question marks that existed at the start of last year exist this year. Can you tell me the areas that the team made progress in last year that put this team in a better place for success this year and please don't just say they made the ECF?

[Iron Mantis]

We are mediocre across the board and the schedule has been pretty easy so far. I think with the core group being together a full year and having gone deeper into the playoffs last year, expectations need to be higher even for regular season success. There should be progress and they should look better. So far that hasn’t been the case

Yep. There's nothing wrong with expecting more from a team that just went to the ECF. We've looked massively disappointing against teams we should be beating with ease. A win against a tanking team isn't moving me honestly.

A win against the Wolves tomorrow should move you