Deeeez Knicks wrote:Jeff Van Gully wrote:Deeeez Knicks wrote:
Not all the time. It took guys getting hurt for others to get more time.
Just look at Deuces minutes. He goes from 5-10min to playing the entire game.
Thibs is still a very good coach. But yea, he has some quirks with the way he's runs his rotation and gives it minutes
that's generally how rotations change though. that's when the opportunities present themselves. grimes is the only demotion i can think of, and it didn't happen overnight.
deuce has kind of been in an obi-like situation until the grimes trade. there aren't that many backup PG minutes to spare. thankfully he's rightly winning the side-by-side with MJ.
True, but Thibs takes it to an extreme. Just using Deuce as an example again because it's fairly obvious. There's been games he has gotten 5 minutes while we run 7 man rotations with the starters getting 40+ minutes.
It's just not sustainable. In the regular season sometimes you just need young active bodies to eat minutes even if they make mistakes. Thibs is usually pretty reluctant to do that and prefers vets or to play his guys 40+ minutes
Again, still a very good coach. Just one of his flaws
Yeah, I remember Grimes saying something like he felt if he missed a few shots he would be pulled from the game. I thought he was overreacting a bit but seeing how Thibs has handled minutes over the last couple months or so clearly shows his lack of trust in certain players, how his hand has to be forced sometimes to play them and some of the complete randomness of his decision making.
The 2 Memphis games stand out in my mind partly because of how huge of a talent advantage we had against their decimated rotations. In the first game OG played against the T'wolves Brunson played 41 minutes and McBride played 7. Brunson had a terrible shooting game but it was pretty clear that the team was much better with him on the court rather than Deuce. The minutes distribution was clearly warranted.
Fast forward to the first Memphis matchup. Brunson was injured and McBride started the game. The starters came out with no energy. Randle looked like trash. Sloppy turnovers. No defense. Does Thibs sit him for his poor play? No. Flynn eventually comes in for McBride for his first real rotational minutes followed by Precious. It wasn't pretty but Flynn was becoming more comfortable as the minutes went by and Precious brought good energy and the bench maintained the small lead. The starters came back and lost the lead and were down by 4 at half. The bench was more effective in their minutes than the starters were.
In the third quarter the starters and specifically Julius came out with more energy. Julius dominated the inexperienced Memphis rotation and there was a 15 point swing with an 11 point lead going into the 4th. At this point you would think with an 11 point cushion against a G-League level of talent and how the bench performed in the first half Thibs would bring in Flynn and Precious. No. In his mind playing them a single minute could lead to a loss. While already shorthanded at the 1 and 5 he proceeds to play McBride and iHart with achilles soreness that he has been managing for a year for the entire second half. Why?
In the second Memphis matchup Randle and OG were out but the Knicks handled another G-League level of talent pretty easily for 3 quarters and were up by 23 going into the 4th. Brunson started the quarter on the bench with many of us hoping he would not have to play the rest of the game and be able to rest. The bench extended the lead to 26 before the Grizzlies went on a small 6-0 run. A -3 point swing in 4 minutes. Not a huge deal. Thibs immediately called a timeout to get Brunson and iHart back in for Flynn and Taj.
They forced the ball to Brunson leading to 2 straight bad possessions. A forced drive by Precious with no time on the shot clock leading to a blocked shot and 3 from Memphis. Then a forced pass by Brunson in traffic leading to a turnover and another Memphis 3. Another 6-0 run. Was a timeout called? No. Was Brunson pulled? No. The lead then went from 20 to 10 in the 2 minutes Brunson came back until he left the game to injury. The Knicks then maintained the lead of ten for the final 6 minutes of the game without Brunson.
Brunson finished the game -3 while Flynn finished the game +15 but Thibs always likes to mention plus/minus for some reason.
That's part of my issue with Thib's minutes distribution. He makes random decisions based on who he trusts and who he feels comfortable with at the moment. Obviously some players have earned and deserve more trust but sometimes time, score, situation and the way someone is playing should dictate who the minutes should go to but he makes decisions almost from a state of paranoia especially in tougher situations. When things get difficult for even a moment his natural reaction is to just play the guys he trusts more no matter if they are injured, fatigued or just playing awful.