joec32033 wrote:I posted this in another forum, but am going to post it here too....
Can we PLEASE stop pretending he doesn't even it out?
From about 4:15-
So we are believing Bridges and believing Brunson and Hart are liars. I am keeping in mind that at the time of their respective comments Brunson has his extension coming up (just like Bridges) and I think Hart just signed his.And rumor has it, I shared with DiVincenzo, that Thibodeau practices aren’t nearly as hard as advertised these days.
“They’re not,” DiVincenzo confirmed. “I played for (the Warriors’ Steve) Kerr and played for Coach Bud (former Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer). It’s not like you come here and all of a sudden you’re just running track every day (in practice). I think what he does by far better than anybody I’ve been around is he’s the most prepared. So it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go for two hours on your feet and running. But when you’re in there, you’re gonna lock in and you’re gonna get the stuff done and we’re gonna get out of there.”
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5361403/2024/03/22/tom-thibodeau-knicks-donte-divincenzo/Despite all that, one Western Conference GM said his team has studied the medical data and there's no incontrovertible proof that playing a high volume of minutes results in injury. Chicago Bulls forward DeMar DeRozan, for example, led the league in minutes per game (37.8) at 33 years old, appeared in 79 games and finished second to Steph Curry for clutch player of the year honors.
"Generally, there's no evidence playing more is bad for a team, short- or long-term, but Thibs is definitely at the outer edge," he said. "It definitely looks bad for him, and the more you play, the more chance you have of getting injured. But I still think that's too simple. I doubt any doctor would say (Hart's) abdominal injury was likely caused by too many minutes. Robinson hardly played and got injured. It's an easy take to say Thibs grinds on his guys, but, again, I don't think there's evidence. Plus, if he didn't play them this much, they lose to Philly in the first round and none of this is an issue."
An Eastern Conference scout agreed. "Could some of the injuries have been prevented by playing Alec Burks and Precious Achiuwa more off the bench?" he asked. "Possibly. But players who are well-rested suffer injuries, too. Fatigue could contribute, for sure, but it's very difficult to assign if it's that or just bad luck."
The Western Conference GM did have a caveat. While he wouldn't draw a direct line from Thibs' approach to the spate of injuries, he wouldn't want his coach to take the same philosophy for reasons beyond assuring health in the postseason
https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nba/nba-confidential-thibs-method-successful-or-shortsighted
https://www.espn.com/blog/chicago-bulls/post/_/id/11013/thibodeau-defends-high-minutes-for-deng-noah
Luol Deng was finished at 31, a victim of Thibs and his minutes abuse, Noah was finished at 29 basically, cooked by playing through injuries for Thibs and high minutes load.
The MP has been building a case on Thibs for over a decade, you can't win this story for story battle. Take it from Detective Jimmy Butler, a member of our department.
RIP mags
