The Donte "Big Ragu" DiVincenzo Thread

[Klomp]

What is Donte....
1. One of the most well-rounded players in the league.
2. In his prime on a team where only one other rotational player is between the ages of 26 and 29 (NAW).
3. Plays with an edge on a franchise that has been spineless for approximately 29 of the first 35 seasons in its history.

[Klomp]

Everyone has pointed to Malik Beasley as the proof of what Finch can do with this kind of guard. But Beasley is not the only one.

One that's easy to forget is that Finch got Gary Harris PAID. Remember Gary Harris? An undersized, well-rounded 2-guard who probably never has looked as good as he did before he got paid. What happened the year before he got paid? Chris Finch was on the Denver staff. Known mostly as a defender, Harris finished with a career-high field goal percentage (.502), second-best 3-point percentage of his career (.420), second-best 2-point percentage (.558), career high win shares per 48 minutes (.124).

Harris signed a 4-year, $84 million contract the following October. Remember, this was 2017....that was a big contract number for then. Also remember, the Nuggets hadn't made the playoffs yet with this group. It was a full season before the Game 82 matchup even took place.

Heck, you could even point to what he's done for Nickeil Alexander-Walker as proof of concept.

[Klomp]

3-Pt Field Goal Attempts, 2023-24
1. Stephen Curry, GSW 876 (32.7 minutes per game, 74 games played)
2. Luka Dončić, DAL 744 (37.5 minutes per game, 70 games played)
3. Donte DiVincenzo, NYK 705 (29.1 minutes per game, 81 games played)

[Klomp]

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[minimus]

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It looks like Donte has already developed some chemistry with Rudy. He still makes some technical mistakes when he executes passes, but last games more often he throws a perfect alleyoop to Gobert.

[minimus]

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[Klomp]

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To the point of Donte starting out slow, I brought this up on the Knicks board a few weeks ago. They said part of what helped him last year was his move into the starting lineup. I think it's absolutely something the staff needs to consider at some point. It would be one thing if Conley was thriving early in the season, but he's certainly not. Playing Conley with the second unit more could also get Nickeil off the ball a little more, which could help his game shine even more, as well.

[The KnicksFix]

Donte is an absolute weapon. He runs off of screens and can launch from 3. Been watching a lot of the wolves this year, it seems to be a clear hierarchy with ant, then Julius then naz, THEN Donte. He absolutely should be ratcheted up to second in the pecking order, he’s a marksman

[DaGawd]

donte needs to play starters minutes to see the reward

[Klomp]

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[_AIJ_]

Can Finch not use him as a PG anymore? i think they are misusing him by not playing his natural position.

[Phish Tank]

so y'all really need Donte to start in order to maximize what you get from him. But the funny thing is that you don't really need him to play the ridiculous mins he played with us to maximize his impact. I say that because the reason he made 3.5 threes/game on average was because he began an absolute absurd amount of threes not just after he got in the starting lineup, but when OG/Randle went down and was defacto playing 40 mins/game from February onwards. From that point on, he was making 4.5 threes a game on supremely high volume. That's insane.

But even playing like 27-30 mins a game can make a difference. At that minute level, he was also shooting around 40% from three. He really juiced his numbers from Jan onwards, which is why he ended up over 40% from three at the end of the day.

Second thing is that it seems like Donte is being asked to be more of a PG in the 2nd unit. That takes away a lot of what he's good at.

[Danimals]

Well he is currently 5th in mpg and the only starter he could potentially replace is Mike. So I don’t think it’s a minutes issue. He’s also not a PG or a good on ball defender. He’s in a shooting slump and would benefit from playing more mins with a PG.

[minimus]

He’s also not a PG or a good on ball defender.

He is a solid on ball defender, but not elite. He also was our best defender in terms of hustle and activity, he did impact the game in small things like deflections, rebounds, running back in transition etc. In some sense he complemented NAW on ball defense very well. But he has not been the same in last games.

[shrink]

donte needs to play starters minutes to see the reward

Who would you bench? Mike Conley is probably needed more than ever to be a stabilizing influence, with SloMo gone.

[shrink]

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So.. not Jeff Teague? Donte wants to be in Minnesota.

[DaGawd]

donte needs to play starters minutes to see the reward

Who would you bench? Mike Conley is probably needed more than ever to be a stabilizing influence, with SloMo gone.

yeah that’s the conundrum i suppose since neither donte or edwards are great distributors, you’d probably want jmac out there for size and defensive versatility which leaves one candidate to be benched…. julius randle

[Danimals]

Mike is our only true primary initiator of the offense. Ant, Randle, Divo, and NAW are all best as secondary initiators or creators within the offense. We either need another primary initiator for the minutes Mike is out. Someone to bring the ball up, make sure everyone is in the right place, and get into the offense early in the set.

This gets to my primary issue with Finch. He wants to run a flow offense where anyone and everyone operates as a point guard or creator. The problem being we don’t have the players for this offense. It requires a team full of high basketball IG guys. We don’t have those guys. We need a structured offense. Secondly, for Ant to truly become an MVP caliber player he needs to become a primary initiator, as well as creator, and finisher of offense for every minute he’s on the floor.

[Danimals]

He’s also not a PG or a good on ball defender.

He is a solid on ball defender, but not elite. He also was our best defender in terms of hustle and activity, he did impact the game in small things like deflections, rebounds, running back in transition etc. In some sense he complemented NAW on ball defense very well. But he has not been the same in last games.

He’s not a bad defender, but he’s not disciplined. I like his aggressive and activity, but he’s more of a disruptor than someone who holds the line on defense. He’s caught too many times going for the steal or overplaying to deny a pass, then his man gets free headed to the basket. This ends up in the team needing to rotate to cover and an eventual open look.

[FrenchMinnyFan]

DDV is not shooting well but as many shooters, he will find it. I like his energy on the court and even his defense is not perfect, he try hard, something we can't say regarding Randle.