mpharris36 wrote:3toheadmelo wrote:mpharris36 wrote:
I don't disagree with a lot of what your saying. But to be fair our offense was just good it was projected to be one of the best most efficient offenses in NBA history on our pace early in the year. So is there a world we could have hovered around 10th best defensively with a full year of Mitch while also maintaining a top 1-2 NBA still is possible in my eyes.
As you pointed out KAT is obviously much less effective on offense as a 4. To the point a majority of his shots come from inside where he can score but isn't what makes him as effective. Clearly C&S 3's and drive lanes is where KAT cooks and those are clearly more open options if a center has to go out and guard him rather than a wing.
Again I'm not tied to KAT...If the end goal is he eventually gets moved I can clearly buy that...but he's on the roster most likely at least for this year. We need to maximize his skill set.
Not counting the smaller minutes for Cam Payne. KAT had our 2nd best NET rating (only behind Mcbride) last year playing a vast majority of time at center...And yes it came with some of our highest DEF NET ratings...but him at center basically generated an offense rating around 120 which is ridiculously good offense. So there is certainly a trade off but as last year showed the trade off is well worth it.
And that is also with our offense going completely in the **** in the 2nd half of the season. Mostly coinciding with teams putting there center on Hart....if team aren't allowed to do that...I dont' know whats stopping our offense from being generational.
Our offense struggled heavily against the top contenders though with KAT at the 5. So there's that. I did not see anything generational with our offense honestly but each to their own.
KAT to me is way less effective if he's just jacking up 3s behind the 3 point line and doing wild ass contested drives. That's exactly what he did against Dallas in the WCF and he pretty much lost them the series. He's 7'0 250 lbs, he should be on the block playing bully ball. Playing like a shooting guard doesn't do anything. So far that's what Mike Brown has him doing and it looks pretty awful.
Im just of the opinion that maximizing KAT doesn't maximize the team's potential. It sounds like the Knicks will be load managing Mitch so there will be games we go 5 out with Mitch out and when Mitch plays he will be starting at the 5. We should have a enough of a sample size to see what will work better under Mike Brown. We'll see what happens. But history says that 5 out with KAT won't work again.
Its apples and oranges for history though. Those Minnesota teams can't compare to our team talent wise. They didn't have a Brunson...they didn't have wings like OG and Mikal.
They basically had one 60 games stretch of not crazy Jimmy butler.
Basically what this tells me from last year is that our offense was Elite when KAT was in the game and then it goes to **** when he's off the floor. The defense gets slightly better with him off the floor which checks out but not at the gap that the offense fails. And nearly all these minutes were with him at the 5 next year.
So KAT at the 4 really isn't helping the offense enough to cover up the his defense. And yes Mitch clearly helps rim protection I get that...I also don't think Mitch with the starters magically makes us a top 5 defensive team either...it is really hard to be a top defensive team Brunson/KAT sharing the floor togehter.
Sometimes you just have to commit to your strengths and try to offset the weaknesses in other areas.
I mean our roster is not really that talented either. Besides Brunson we have a bunch of high paid role players. It's not that different from having Ant Edwards with Jaden Mcdaniels, Naz reid, malik Beasley, NAW etc. And that team with Butler was pretty stacked with a lot of offensive fire power.
KAT's defense absolutely killed us against indiana at the 5.
In Game 2, that strategic targeting became glaringly obvious. Towns registered a game-worst minus-20 in his 28 minutes, and it wasn’t just about missed shots.
The Pacers shot 9-of-18 from three with Towns on the court and only 4-of-12 without him. Coach Tom Thibodeau responded by benching Towns for over six minutes in the fourth quarter, turning to Mitchell Robinson for a defensive spark.
Robinson, far more agile defending the perimeter and in pick-and-rolls, played a postseason-high 29 minutes. His presence helped tighten the gaps, and the Knicks mounted a late push with him anchoring the paint.
Yet by the time Towns re-entered with just 2:25 left and the deficit unchanged at nine points, the damage was already done.
This is why the FO forced thibs to start Mitch in game 3.
You can't ignore the article about how our players and coaches were very frustrated with him defensively all year. Hart even expressed his frustration with KAT after game 2.
We need him to be locked in and communicate defensively,” Hart said when asked generally what the Knicks need from Towns. “That’s all we need from him. Need him to communicate at a high level.”
