I mean the real issue is that the most important position on the floor defensively is Center (especially for a Thibs coached team) and that's where the Knicks are just currently the most injured. I think we'll look a lot better when we get Precious back and he could give us 15-25 minutes a night at both the 4 and 5 next to KAT. Obviously Mitch too although I think he'll eventually be traded for something.
KAT having to play C basically full time is really what's killing our defense.
Sims is unplayable and the only alternative right now is Hukporti. He is a late 2nd round pick and also bad defensively. Even if maybe he has a little more upside than Sims does I don't think it would change anything at least rotationally considering he's a pure 5.
There's a lot of evidence the Knicks have been more unlucky than bad but still the 3 point defense is concerning. However, I think it's more of a domino effect of not having reliable rim protection on the back end. Teams know if they can get people driving at KAT, then the Knicks are going to over help to compensate which allows the open 3's we've seen. On top of that, Mikal has been disappointing, especially, on defense. Part of the calculus for the Knicks to be good was that even if they took a hit on the backline defensively, their point of attack and wing defense could compensate a lot for it. Mikal's screen navigation has been bad and it's allowed guards to get in the paint way too often.
Also all coaches have a blind spot. Thibs blind spot is obviously trusting back end of rotation guys to do a job. But obviously he brings other positives to the table as a coach. Most Thibs teams are a slow burn anyway. Almost all of our seasons have started out this way and then the Knicks around December/January start to rip off wins. This forum doesn't do patience very well and this team just needs patience. They are still top 10 in Net Rating and the only team in the top 10 that is below .500. Most guys that the Knicks could get to replace him, who may be considered an upgrade, would be guys that have been out of head coaching for a long time (Jay Wright, JVG, etc.) or Top college guys who we have no idea if they translate to the pros. An assistant is not getting this job given what the expectations are.
While most cry that we are losing the math battle, it's not really based in any reality. We're a top 5 offensive team even with the flaws we know exist. Brunson hasn't truly gotten going and Mikal's shooting slump will eventually subside IMO although his form may have fuqqed his above the break 3 potential.
People are complaining Thibs is too old school to adapt but the Knicks the past two seasons have floated around the top 10 in 3 point FG frequency. I think it's more of a personnel issue than a coaching issue. Brunson prefers the mid range and driving. KAT prefers to post and drive rather than chuck threes. Mikal and OG almost exclusively shoot from the corners. Thibs needs to adapt a bit more but the personnel is the personnel at some point. I think the lowest hanging fruit is to get KAT and Brunson to get more 3's up, but then you may see some diminishing returns on their elite mid and post games. Getting Mikal to get more trigger happy would help too but the problem is he's been awful above the break. SO telling him to shoot more shots he's likely to miss seems like a bad idea.
I think getting Shamet or Ryan in there to just fire away for 10-15 minutes could help.
This is a lot of unorganized thoughts I had so I just put him in here
