PG: KNICKS vs new jersey nets - Even Tony Brothers Can't Stop Us!!!

[The KnicksFix]

You know what I love about KAT besides his game? I love how professional and humble he is. He's probably the most talented and best player we have on the team and he has zero ego. Always complimenting his teammates and calling Brunson Captain. I'm extremely impressed with him thus far.

Good guy, a lot different from Randle. Randle was a great player, but not like KAT in a lot of ways, namely being so complimentary of teammates

[R-DAWG]

Right now both the Bucks and Pistons picks are conveying if the season ended today with one to the Nets as a top 10 lottery pick and the other to the Wolves in the middle of the 1st.

Pistons wheels are gonna fall off and Bucks will continue to climb.

The Bucks pick will end up being in the 18-22 range IMO. Hard to see a Giannis team not being in the top 6 in the East.

I don’t see the DET pick conveying this year, but next year when the protection drops to top-11 or the following year when the protections drop to top-9 make the pick very interesting.

Wish we kept some draft capital. The upgrade from DDV to Bridges wasn’t worth it.

[NoDopeOnSundays]

As many have mentioned the minutes are gonna come back to bite us. Thibs is really putting Mikals iron man record to test. Hoping it will get better once we get Deuce and Precious back but damn I don't know any other coach that does this to his players.

mikal is not doing anything unusual. find a season since he's been a full-time starter that he hasn't been among the league leaders in MPG and (obviously) total minutes.

it's game 13. no one is going to average 38 minutes. we had a player average over 36 once in the thibs era. (randle in year 1)

Mikal has never actually been among the top 10 mpg leaders, the highest he has ever been is 14th and after that he's been 17th, 38th, 105th and 75th. I don't see why his minutes are going to come down too much either, Tom doesn't trust the backup wings, the bigs coming back aren't going to eat into his minutes.


Tom plays guys obscene number of minutes for stretches of games when someone is hurt, this is not acceptable, and we saw it last year. This is a track record of doing this, and we know it leads to injuries. There's no more excusing this after last season and how that ended. I'd rather lose a game now because we played Pacome and Ryan extended minutes than lose any of the 3 wings later because they've been driven into the ground.

[Jalen Bluntson]

I am not having the minutes debate again this year.

yes, you will. even though you answered your own question.

No. I said all I'm gonna say about it. That's it. We are already dealing with injuries. There's no need to risk making it worse. Anyone who can't see that can talk to everyone else who knows better. I will just hand out And1s and hope I don't have to say I told you so in 6 months.

There's a reason we have 17 players and 18 spots on the roster. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Thibs needs to realize that. When Precious and Deuce come back soon things need to change. I assume they will.

[TKKnicks1]

As many have mentioned the minutes are gonna come back to bite us. Thibs is really putting Mikals iron man record to test. Hoping it will get better once we get Deuce and Precious back but damn I don't know any other coach that does this to his players.

mikal is not doing anything unusual. find a season since he's been a full-time starter that he hasn't been among the league leaders in MPG and (obviously) total minutes.

it's game 13. no one is going to average 38 minutes. we had a player average over 36 once in the thibs era. (randle in year 1)

I'm not sure this is true. Last 5 seasons Mikal averaged 32.6, 34.8, 36.4, 34.2 and 34.8, respectively. None of those were top 10 in minutes. This season he's at 38.3. I know once we get healthy his minutes will come down but we do have Dadiet and Ryan right now. There is no need for Thibs to be running our players to the ground in November.

[R-DAWG]

I do think centers coming back will fix some of the wing glut because it pushes KAT to the 4 at times.

Right now, our big issue is that we have 144 minutes a game we need to allocate to SG, SF, and PF. We've been filling that with OG, Hart, and Mikal, with some sprinkling of Dadiet and Matt Ryan. With Mitch or Precious taking 20ish at the C, KAT takes the rest of the 20 at C, 10ish at PF. Then we add in McBride at SG. I feel we do need another wing, so someone needs to step it up (Dadiet...Ryan...Warren...Shamet...trade), but it'll help a little.

This shouldn’t be so hard Thibs:

SG: Bridges (22)/McBride (26)
SF: Anunoby (35)/Bridges (13)
PF: Hart (35)/Dadiet (13)
C: Towns (33) /Huk (15)

When Precious comes back:

Bridges (22)/McBride (26)
Anunoby (33)/Bridges (13)/Hart (2)
Precious (10)/Hart(28)/Dadiet (10)
Towns (33)/ Precious (15)

Bridges - 35
Anunoby -33
Towns - 33
Hart - 30
McBride -26
Precious - 25
Dadiet - 10

Of course Brunson (33) and Payne (15) round out the rotation. Mitch takes Precious minutes when back, Precious could take Dadiet minutes.

[Jeff Van Gully]

As many have mentioned the minutes are gonna come back to bite us. Thibs is really putting Mikals iron man record to test. Hoping it will get better once we get Deuce and Precious back but damn I don't know any other coach that does this to his players.

mikal is not doing anything unusual. find a season since he's been a full-time starter that he hasn't been among the league leaders in MPG and (obviously) total minutes.

it's game 13. no one is going to average 38 minutes. we had a player average over 36 once in the thibs era. (randle in year 1)

Mikal has never actually been among the top 10 mpg leaders, the highest he has ever been is 14th and after that he's been 17th, 38th, 105th and 75th. I don't see why his minutes are going to come down too much either, Tom doesn't trust the backup wings, the bigs coming back aren't going to eat into his minutes.


Tom plays guys obscene number of minutes for stretches of games when someone is hurt, this is not acceptable, and we saw it last year. This is a track record of doing this, and we know it leads to injuries. There's no more excusing this after last season and how that ended. I'd rather lose a game now because we played Pacome and Ryan extended minutes than lose any of the 3 wings later because they've been driven into the ground.

i never said he was top 10. i actually set the bar at him being a full-time starter. out of approximately 450 players, i'd consider being in the 90% percentile a leader there, which he has been as a starter.

i agree with you fully that thibs compounds injury challenges when players go down by tightening the rotation. that's a concern i've never argued against. i also understand how concerning it is to see so early in the season.

i do think right now we're trying to figure out our top guys playing together. but i would not hate to see more opportunities for players who will not normally be in the rotation during times like these. next man up can truly be that. but it's also not like they are the same guys. like... the way hart can go 40 minutes is not something i'd expect to see asked of his replacement in the rotation. so it's not always as easy as we discuss.

another thing i see minutes scientists doing around here is only matching numbers without regard for who is playing together and when. it's a lot more complicated than the way we oversimplify on a forum like this.

ppl will really be like:
32/10/6
34/12/2
36/12
...etc

like... put that on a swim lane chart and tell me who's doing what when.

[thebuzzardman]

Why Brunson score so few points?

[Jeff Van Gully]

As many have mentioned the minutes are gonna come back to bite us. Thibs is really putting Mikals iron man record to test. Hoping it will get better once we get Deuce and Precious back but damn I don't know any other coach that does this to his players.

mikal is not doing anything unusual. find a season since he's been a full-time starter that he hasn't been among the league leaders in MPG and (obviously) total minutes.

it's game 13. no one is going to average 38 minutes. we had a player average over 36 once in the thibs era. (randle in year 1)

I'm not sure this is true. Last 5 seasons Mikal averaged 32.6, 34.8, 36.4, 34.2 and 34.8, respectively. None of those were top 10 in minutes. This season he's at 38.3. I know once we get healthy his minutes will come down but we do have Dadiet and Ryan right now. There is no need for Thibs to be running our players to the ground in November.

where am i saying top 10 out of 450?

and we are 13 games in while navigating early injuries. i'd reserve some of this concern for later.

nodope has a better point about how when players get hurt thibs doesn't always replace them in the rotation and consider the ripple effects. very fair and appropriate conversation there. but we also have been losing games while trying to find our chemistry. it IS early and i'm not tripping yet.

as bluntson alluded, better to review a little later.

[CDAZ]

Dadiet needs to play

I have no complaints as long as he hits the weight room as well. That one defensive sequence with him was just beautiful.

[Knick4Real]

Read on Twitter

[Clyde_Style]

[Jeff Van Gully]

Read on Twitter

u mad, doggy?

[Jeff Van Gully]

kat smart as hell for getting himself in foul trouble or his mins would be ridiculously high too.

[Jalen Bluntson]

Why Brunson score so few points?

Full court press and double teamed most of the game. Had an off night shooting. but, adjusted and made double digit assists(1 turnover) with 5 rebounds and a steal or two.

Looks like his ankle is still bothering him as well. Didn't have that herky jerky stop and pivot on a dime working. Teams have been geared to stopping him all season.

[HighRyzer83]

I still can't believe how good Kat is even defensively. He's a legit franchise player, who was convincing himself to take on a role player slot for the good of the team whereas as Randle the exact opposite.

[Jalen Bluntson]

I still can't believe how good Kat is even defensively. He's a legit franchise player, who was convincing himself to take on a role player slot for the good of the team whereas as Randle the exact opposite. I don't get how were we able to swindle the wolves to thinking Randle would be a suitable replacement for him. Their defense has gone to shyt

They didn't value him enough or use him properly. Financial reasons made them think they could replace him with Randle and DDV. Was it a big mistake? Too early to tell but, we won that trade. KAT replaced Randle/DDV/Shart all by himself. Franchise cornerstone level player. Great trade.

[ctorres]

OG continues his campaign for an all-star selection

Last 8 games
38.1 mpg
20.3 ppg
6.6 rpg
2.1 apg
1.3 spg
1.0 bpg
51.3% fg's
38.5% 3pt fg's
81.5% ft's

This is very high production for a 3rd option. Could he be "the guy" on another team? Is he Kawhi-lite?

Coaches are gonna have a very tough time picking the reserves this time around. Hart is deserving too.

[gavran]

Hukporti with another solid game, didn't miss a shot.

[NiceLikeChrist]

Rewatching the game and Hahn says thibs pointed at some numbers when he explained that Jericho sims still has the backup center job. Notably rim protection numbers. I would love to take a look at these numbers myself to see what this sicko is talking about