There are a few things we know for sure about New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau: He plays his players a lot of minutes, that sound you hear is him screaming ICE from the sideline, and he doesn’t go small.
Well, that last thing is probably about to change.
Historically, Thibodeau thinks about his defense from the inside out. Protecting the rim is a priority, and he tends to keep a center on the floor for all 48 minutes. There’s a chance Thibodeau doesn’t change, but the way this roster is constructed suggests that he will.
If the Knicks didn’t revamp the roster this summer, then they did a bit of cosmetic work. Gone is center Isaiah Hartenstein. In comes wing Mikal Bridges. That swap came at the expense of five first-round picks and valuable depth at center.
The Knicks have their starting center in Mitchell Robinson and re-signed backup Precious Achiuwa, but they are awfully thin beyond those two and it’s unclear how many quality center minutes they’ll get from either one.
Robinson is still recovering from his second ankle surgery in nine months and he’s played fewer than 60 games in three of the last four seasons. Achiuwa is smaller than a traditional center and was occasionally used on fours while Thibodeau relied on OG Anunoby to defend fives.
Not long after the Knicks acquired him, Anunoby underwent elbow surgery and a hamstring injury that ended his season. Before the end of last season, Thibodeau acknowledged that had Anunoby been healthy, he would have used him in more situations where he could defend centers. Perhaps that was a clue as to how Thibodeau plans to use Anunoby this upcoming season.
The Knicks might be thin at center but they might also have the best group of perimeter defenders in the league. Bridges and Anunoby form a defensive duo rivaling the best in the NBA. Alex Caruso and Lu Dort, Jaden McDaniels and Anthony Edwards, Jrue Holiday and Derrick White… they are all elite, but Bridges and Anunoby present more size than the lot.
Anunoby is more comfortable using his strength and reach to defend bigger players. Bridges thrives when corralling ball-handlers on the perimeter and fighting over screens. The Knicks can deploy Anunoby on fives and Bridges on the most threatening perimeter scorer.
Against the Boston Celtics, the Knicks have two forwards who can guard Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. Against the Milwaukee Bucks, they have the bodies to throw at Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Deploying a lineup with Anunoby at the five, Bridges and three other wings wouldn’t include a traditional rim protector, but a great way to protect the rim is to prevent opponents from getting to the basket in the first place.
Thibodeau has been reluctant to go small in the past. He played just 32 possessions without a traditional center on the court all of last season, according to Cleaning the Glass. Most of those lineups had Julius Randle at the five. There’s a chance that Randle is used as a backup center option this season.
Going small is also a great way to find minutes for Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo. As The Athletic’s Fred Katz recently pointed out:
“Remember all those jokes about how he would never take Hart off the court? Well, Hart hasn’t changed over the past four months and neither has Thibodeau. The coach might be searching for ways to get him more than 23 minutes. This would be one of them.”
The Knicks might be the league’s deepest team 1-4, but they are most certainly not deep at center. Playing small allows Thibodeau to get his best players more minutes, a tentpole element of his approach. Put another way: Thibodeau might not view this approach as going “small” per se, but rather as a way to get his best players on the court.
If it doesn’t work, the Knicks could make a move for a center during the season, either by using Randle’s $28.9 million salary or Achiuwa’s smaller $6 million salary. (They still have a couple of protected firsts and pick swaps to use in a deal.)
But for now, this is Thibodeau’s roster. The Knicks will take it for a spin before making any other major decisions, and even experimenting with smaller lineups counts as a new trick.
Thibodeau has never played small for large stretches of the season, but he’s also never had a team quite this deep with perimeter talent.