How do we fix our defense?

[3toheadmelo]

You need a rim protecting big next to KAT. If the team is hell bent on keeping KAT at Center , then you need a rim protecting defensive big at PF. Ideally Precious makes the most sense. But I have a feeling they won’t go that route and could make a move at the deadline to fix the rim protection. However our biggest issue has been defending the 3 and that squarely falls on coaching and Bridges being a huge bust so far

Finally admitting that we need rim protection after mocking it eventually more of you guys will fall in line

Yeah I’m back on Team Mitch now. Trying to outscore everybody is not who we are. We can sacrifice some offense for defense.

Yep and I doubt our offense will take some big hit anyways. Will be minor at most

[Tomato Sauce]

I honestly don’t think KAT and Brunson could work as a title team. We’ll always be pretenders unless the other three are all OG level defenders. That’s just not practical.

I think we will have to move on from KAT at some point and build around Brunson with better fitting pieces. I hope I’m wrong.

Ya you’re dead wrong on this one.

Our defense has looked awful so far. We can’t beat any competent team in the playoffs with this defense. Precious/Mitch/Deuce should help, sure, but I’m afraid it may not be enough to reach contention with the current core.

We are missing 3 defensive players in Mitch/Precious and Deuce…you don’t think our defense will improve when they come back from injury?

Stop panicking and let’s see what happens when they return first.

[Gravy]

Having a freakish offense was cute for a while but I'll go back to winning games 95-84 thank you.

Where them rim protection at

[sol537]

Ya you’re dead wrong on this one.

Our defense has looked awful so far. We can’t beat any competent team in the playoffs with this defense. Precious/Mitch/Deuce should help, sure, but I’m afraid it may not be enough to reach contention with the current core.

We are missing 3 defensive players in Mitch/Precious and Deuce…you don’t think our defense will improve when they come back from injury?

Stop panicking and let’s see what happens when they return first.

I'm of the opinion that you can't have two defensive holes in your starting line-up to win a title. Boston and Cleveland will hunt KAT and Brunson all series long. If we can't stop or slow the opponent, we won't prevail no matter how much "5 out" we play. KAT for Giannis may need to be the long term play....

[FrozenEnvelope]

Mitch and Precious will help but Bridges and everyone just need to play better. Especially in the 4th quarters.

[KnixinSix]

I think its still part acclimation process but even more importantly if we keep Thibs we need an elite rim protector back in the equation

[cgf]

Just need to play Towns at the 4, like he did for minny. Towns is a solid defender at that spot, so Brunson would be our only liability.

[Moose]

Mitch/rim defender next to KAT. Kat should play most of his minutes at the 4. The twolves had it right.

Move Bridges to the bench where if you stack things correctly, he can have a higher usage.

Mitch/KAT/OG/Hart/Brunson
KAT/OG/Bridges/Hart/Brunson

Are just a couple of the lineups you can consider to close our games.

I doubt we will move Towns to the 4 and Bridges to the bench, but I think it makes sense.

If Bridges was playing as a plus defender and/or able to hit the three, perhaps I would see it differently, but right now...

[prophet_of_rage]

Finally admitting that we need rim protection after mocking it eventually more of you guys will fall in line

Yeah I’m back on Team Mitch now. Trying to outscore everybody is not who we are. We can sacrifice some offense for defense.

Yep and I doubt our offense will take some big hit anyways. Will be minor at most

We'll become the Timberwolves. Josh will become the token sub but once he comes on he will never come off.

Mikal will continue to disappoint.

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[Woodsanity]

I honestly don’t think KAT and Brunson could work as a title team. We’ll always be pretenders unless the other three are all OG level defenders. That’s just not practical.

I think we will have to move on from KAT at some point and build around Brunson with better fitting pieces. I hope I’m wrong.

Ya you’re dead wrong on this one.

Our defense has looked awful so far. We can’t beat any competent team in the playoffs with this defense. Precious/Mitch/Deuce should help, sure, but I’m afraid it may not be enough to reach contention with the current core.

T-Wolve were ranked 1st on defense last season with Towns. We need to see how our defense works with a good rim protector. If we still do badly defensively with Mitch then yes there is a problem.

My main is concern is that Mitch is not reliable due to constant injuries.

[Woodsanity]

You need a rim protecting big next to KAT. If the team is hell bent on keeping KAT at Center , then you need a rim protecting defensive big at PF. Ideally Precious makes the most sense. But I have a feeling they won’t go that route and could make a move at the deadline to fix the rim protection. However our biggest issue has been defending the 3 and that squarely falls on coaching and Bridges being a huge bust so far

Finally admitting that we need rim protection after mocking it eventually more of you guys will fall in line

For Kat we definitely need to follow the T-Wolves model and play with twin towers. Mitch needs to play the role of Gobert.

Someone like Jokic is the exception not the norm so we cannot follow the Nuggets.

[Knicksfan1992]

KAT in any sort of coverage is mostly bad. Demonizing drop coverage because of this fact is pretty stupid lol. Especially since the Knicks have tried multiple coverages and most have failed...

I'm guessing it's because they are mostly a new team with a new back line communicator in KAT. My guess is around the 20 game mark it'll start to look better as they get more accustomed to whatever rules they've implemented and will probably switch a bit more. That'll probably be the adjustment Thibs makes.

Also we'll get a natural tick back up once Precious, Deuce and Mitch are all healthy. Then drop becomes more viable. Also it'll lower the amount of minutes KAT has to play as the 5 defensively. Even if neither Mitch nor Precious start, then being able to mix those guys in with and without KAT will obviously have a positive effect on the defense. Also having Precious around may make Thibs more open to playing KAT and Sims together in the meantime. As of now, the Knicks haven't even attempted it.

[prophet_of_rage]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Funny how they are roasting Mikal before he came and then sure enough it comes true. Can't keep up with speed and can;t handle big players, either. Tough. And it isn't scheme.

[3toheadmelo]

You need a rim protecting big next to KAT. If the team is hell bent on keeping KAT at Center , then you need a rim protecting defensive big at PF. Ideally Precious makes the most sense. But I have a feeling they won’t go that route and could make a move at the deadline to fix the rim protection. However our biggest issue has been defending the 3 and that squarely falls on coaching and Bridges being a huge bust so far

Finally admitting that we need rim protection after mocking it eventually more of you guys will fall in line

For Kat we definitely need to follow the T-Wolves model and play with twin towers. Mitch needs to play the role of Gobert.

Someone like Jokic is the exception not the norm so we cannot follow the Nuggets.

Facts Ive been saying this

[prophet_of_rage]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

versus

Watch on YouTube

Funny how they are roasting Mikal before he came and then sure enough it comes true. Can't keep up with speed and can;t handle big players, either. Tough. And it isn't scheme.

[sol537]

Ya you’re dead wrong on this one.

Our defense has looked awful so far. We can’t beat any competent team in the playoffs with this defense. Precious/Mitch/Deuce should help, sure, but I’m afraid it may not be enough to reach contention with the current core.

T-Wolve were ranked 1st on defense last season with Towns. We need to see how our defense works with a good rim protector. If we still do badly defensively with Mitch then yes there is a problem.

My main is concern is that Mitch is not reliable due to constant injuries.

Conley was a more competent defender than Brunson was last season and Gobert is on a higher level than Mitch. So having a "5" like Mitch or Precious next to KAT should help (instead of trotting Hart out there)... I don't think it will be enough.

[spree2kawhi]

Wait for our defenders to get healthy. Go from there.

Why is everybody panicking?

[ctuk]

Switch

This. Doesn't mean switch right away or easily but if defender can't get over/around the pick in time just switch.

Thibs philosophy is don't give up the paint and concede the 3 but we seem to be unable to stop either.

Also feels like the defensive gameplan is the same regardless of matchups.

Thibs stubbornness is a concern and it's only the regular season. Playoffs could be exposed even worse

A ton of teams pre-switch to keep their poor defenders from having to guard screen action. We need to do more of that. Brunson's best attribute on defense is his ability to take the charge. We know he can't navigate screens and impact shots with a contest due to his size. So I'd much rather let their bigs post him up instead of giving up practice 3s. At least he'll draw a couple of charges in this scenario, and help would be closer thereby shrinking the floor for him to cover.

As if rn any angled screen involving Brunson or Kat's man = wide open practice 3. We need to hide kat from screen actions as much as possible. Similar to how Denver and hou use their big man. Kat's ceiling on the defensive end can only be achieved by making him a help defender only and by limiting how much ground he needs to cover he can be better at it than he is rn.

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[ctuk]

Our problem is giving up open 3s more than anything tho. Look at our losses we get hosed from the 3pt line in all of our losses. Multiple teams have shot over 50% from 3 against us. Rim protection isn't nearly as big of an issue for us in comparison.

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[aggo]

KAT cant play C if the strategy is for him to play drop