KnixinSix wrote:With a focus on defense and what he values most there as well as creating elite spacing for Brunson.
1.No ball dominant players besides Brunson. KAT is more a score within the flow kind of offensive guy who is either quick to make his decision to drive, shoot or pass. Less low IQ / ball stopping indecisive stuff that Randle had a habit of doing when he bully balled. This team had dominant stretches when they moved the ball around well and they are more ideally structured to do that now.
2. DDV out but McBride still here. THis is underrated point here. Yes I get DDV was a sharpshooter. But he was better as a starter than a bench player and Bridges was going to definitely eat into his minutes. But the big thing is is McBride is worlds better as a defender in Thibs ssytem. DDV was not terrible but he was definitely one of the weaker defenders of the major minute guys on the team. Some of DDVs minutes will now go to McBride and he can be a closer for us defensively when we have a big lead.
3. Elite Floor spacing. 3 ball shooters from 1-5. Every position now will boast a 3 ball guy who can hit at 40% or near it. 5-out is how Boston won a championship last year and now we can play the same way for stretches of the game. KAT is one of the best 3 ball C/PFs in the history of the game.
4. Elite defenders 1-5 and players that can defend multiple positions. This might be the most important one of all. Thibs system thrives on defense. The one year we stunk under Thibs was when Kemba and Fournier got major minutes and were absolutely terrible on closing out and help defense. Terrible. KAT is not elite in some areas but he is a pretty strong 1 on 1 defender in recent years and much better than Randle was in this area. HE legit played solid D on Durant and excellent D on Jokic. He gives more effort here than Randle does and we purposely brought in one of the best big men coaches in the NBA to get the best out of him.
5. Better depth to survive injuries. This team has depth at every single position. Every single one. Even a guy like Marcus Morris is very good veteran depth to have in the frontcourt. If OG gets hurt we still have an elite defensive wing in Bridges to still execute Thibs defense.
Conclusion:
This team basically subbed out Randle and DDV for Bridges and KAT. And it is a big upgrade in terms of system fit for what THibs wants to do. This team beat EVERY team in the NBA last year including Minny, Denver, Boston etc. after getting OG. A strong defensive wing that can guard multiple positions is HUGE for Thibs system and now we added Bridges too! Bottomline, This is a truly a better fitting roster for what Thibs wants to do.
I think/hope you are right.
Good points, all of them.
The changes from last year though did cut down our D from the 5 position. And cut down our top go-to offensive guy in case Brun goes down for any length of time.
If Mitch comes back serviceable and not fat and Mikal and/or OG can still feast -- either by initiating or by Hart's insanely good foul line to foul line driving -- we'll be better.
We'll be close or maybe there in a good/lucky year. No reason we cant be as good as Denver was when they won. Sure, sure we don't have a Jokic but we have better and more numerous semi-stars.
RIP mags
