PG: fake contenders

[HopelessKnick]

PG: Brunson
SG: Deuce
SF: Bridges
PF: OG
C: KAT

+6.9 but only like 38 minutes

Again that line-up would not work against the elite teams. Against Boston and OKC you pretty much have a height/size disadvantage at every single position. For this team to be more intimidating on defense and actually cause the Boston's and OKCs of this world to struggle you need more size in there.

But I definitely agree with the idea of benching Hart. He has been pretty poor on defense and can't shoot much. Hart is a very good bench player but not a good starter. And it is pretty easy to see as well.

[nedleeds]

If Leon is still here in the summer of 2026 he needs to make every effort to sign and trade Mikal.

Should return a huge haul ......























of cat litter

[JayTWill]

He’s only starting and playing tons of mins because Mitch has been injured all year long. Thibs has called Mitch our starting C. How are you blaming Thibs for Mitch being injured?

And statistically Hart is averaging the most PPG, RPG and APG in his career. How can you dispute that? He is bringing out the best of him but Hart is going to the bench once Mitch is at 100%.

He is bringing out the best in Hart by allowing him to play a ton of minutes and control the ball more while actively hurting the team on both ends of the court? If that was someone you were trying to discredit those would be empty stats.

And considering Deuce is a better shooter and defender than Hart i'm not sure why Hart is the one averaging 37.6 minutes and Deuce is averaging 24.9 minutes.

Even when Mitch came back Thibs somehow decided it was a good idea to have him play twice as many minutes with Hart on the court than he does with Hart off the court because that clearly a great pairing right?

https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612752&Season=2024-25&SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&PlayerIds=1629011,1628404&OnlyCommonGames=true

He has had plenty of opportunities to scale back Hart's role throughout the year but he hasn't.

Why did you completely ignore that Mitch has been injured and is the main reason why Hart is starting? Hart is a decent player, I don’t hate him. Hes forced to start because Mitch has been injured the whole year.

Deuce and hart play two completely different positions. I’m not sure I see the correlation?

Hart + Mitch has a positive net rating of +4.9. So your argument fails there.

What position does Hart actually play????? Some people say you are who you can guard. Considering that you called him a traffic cone I don't know what position he can actually guard. We hide him off-ball many games and on offense he acts as a low level point guard at times while being a terrible off-ball floor spacer that can absolutely kill a half court possession.

And Mitch without Hart is +22 so apparently there are some lineups that have worked very well without Hart on the court. So your argument fails there.

[Adelheid]

Read on Twitter

The numbers presented this way are incriminating. And of course, we're limping into the playoffs which is our tradition at this point.

they have to overcome and defeat opposing teams while playing huge minutes

if its not the case, then they are sawft and lacking machismo

you know the drill here in rgm knicks board

[spree8]

Also, ESPN is starting

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/44221755/tom-thibodeau-heavy-minute-knicks-again

And they wonder why Mikal is inconsistent

People need to put these two together and try to be objective

I agree that Tom's usage of Mikal has been super problematic. Tom's approach to defense in the modern era is asinine and that's why coaches like Atkinson basically coach circles around him with little effort.

But I can't give Mikal a pass as an individual either. 6 FGAs last night after what OG did to help the team early on is not cool.

Yea I didn’t like it either, but I dunno how he’s feeling or what he’s thinking.

Gotta suck when you’re playing so many minutes, never miss a game, being out of position n run thru endless screens getting beat up in the process, 2nd night of a back to back, and up against a top defense with guys like Deandre Hunter n likely DPOY Evan Mobley guarding you.

While I don’t like it, I can’t go too hard on him all things considered.

[ctorres]

Read on Twitter

[Adelheid]

players will try to get the rise out of you. you are the all star in the team, after all

if KAT gets tech'd or ejected, then their work is done

[TheGreenArrow]

So which players are Thibs not utilizing properly? And are we still handing out apology forms for Mikal?

When defending Thibs you say that Josh Hart is having a career year under him but you have also called him a traffic cone that teams ignore on offense and a non-starter on a championship team. How can Thibs be utilizing him properly if he is not only starting him, he is giving him a larger role AND has him leading the league in minutes? What good is a "career year" when you are describing a guy that is actively hurting the team when he is on the court?

I understand Thibs playing Hart 37 minutes last night with the team shorthanded but what is the unquestionable reason for having a "traffic cone" that can't shoot leading the league in minutes? We saw how Mobley could just play center field last night and muck up the Knicks limited offense.

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=W09F6FrMDfp5_y1gKYgF1g

[HEZI]

Mikal excuses are just as soft as his game.

Meanwhile OG plays heavy minutes, plays back to backs, locks up bigger opponents and last night it was Evan Mobley who was 4-11 from the field for only 13 points. And yet OG still brought it offensively and attacked and played aggressive.

Mikal on the other hand, just soft. Dude should have been left in Brooklyn playing for the Nets where he can play for an irrelevant franchise, put up empty stats against bad teams and not worry about any fans or expectations

[mpharris36]

no excuse...mikal had a horrible game. Not sure why he was so hesitant to score last night.

He is coming off a 20/5/4 March on 53/33/92 splits. That is a 61 TS% which are really good numbers.

Without knowing truly what went on I want to chalk it up to just a bad game on a 2nd night of a back to back. The guy has played all 76 of our games. It was a bad night. Obviously if this trends continues in the playoffs against teams trying to take him away then yes this would be concerning.

[3toheadmelo]

He is bringing out the best in Hart by allowing him to play a ton of minutes and control the ball more while actively hurting the team on both ends of the court? If that was someone you were trying to discredit those would be empty stats.

And considering Deuce is a better shooter and defender than Hart i'm not sure why Hart is the one averaging 37.6 minutes and Deuce is averaging 24.9 minutes.

Even when Mitch came back Thibs somehow decided it was a good idea to have him play twice as many minutes with Hart on the court than he does with Hart off the court because that clearly a great pairing right?

https://www.pbpstats.com/wowy-combos/nba?TeamId=1610612752&Season=2024-25&SeasonType=Regular%2BSeason&PlayerIds=1629011,1628404&OnlyCommonGames=true

He has had plenty of opportunities to scale back Hart's role throughout the year but he hasn't.

Why did you completely ignore that Mitch has been injured and is the main reason why Hart is starting? Hart is a decent player, I don’t hate him. Hes forced to start because Mitch has been injured the whole year.

Deuce and hart play two completely different positions. I’m not sure I see the correlation?

Hart + Mitch has a positive net rating of +4.9. So your argument fails there.

What position does Hart actually play????? Some people say you are who you can guard. Considering that you called him a traffic cone I don't know what position he can actually guard. We hide him off-ball many games and on offense he acts as a low level point guard at times while being a terrible off-ball floor spacer that can absolutely kill a half court possession.

And Mitch without Hart is +22 so apparently there are some lineups that have worked very well without Hart on the court. So your argument fails there.

Hart is a SF/PF. That’s not rocket science

It seems obvious that Thibs is trying out different lineups with Mitch while easing him back into the rotation. So I’m not sure why you want to die on that hill when he’s been out for most of the season?

[3toheadmelo]

Mikal excuses are just as soft as his game.

Meanwhile OG plays heavy minutes, plays back to backs, locks up bigger opponents and last night it was Evan Mobley who was 4-11 from the field for only 13 points. And yet OG still brought it offensively and attacked and played aggressive.

Mikal on the other hand, just soft. Dude should have been left in Brooklyn playing for the Nets where he can play for an irrelevant franchise, put up empty stats against bad teams and not worry about any fans or expectations

Mikal has been shtting the bed against every contender this year. People are coming up with excuses for him because they don’t want to admit they were wrong about Mikal or they rather deflect blame to Thibs.

[spree8]

Mikal excuses are just as soft as his game.

Meanwhile OG plays heavy minutes, plays back to backs, locks up bigger opponents and last night it was Evan Mobley who was 4-11 from the field for only 13 points. And yet OG still brought it offensively and attacked and played aggressive.

Mikal on the other hand, just soft. Dude should have been left in Brooklyn playing for the Nets where he can play for an irrelevant franchise, put up empty stats against bad teams and not worry about any fans or expectations

They’re not excuses lol it’s facts. Shyt happens for a reason, nothing soft about it.

Coming from the guy who thinks Deandre Hunter is a premier 3-level scorer and thinks “your turn my turn” ball is strictly ISO plays, I won’t put too much stock into this

[JayTWill]

Also, ESPN is starting

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/44221755/tom-thibodeau-heavy-minute-knicks-again

And they wonder why Mikal is inconsistent

People need to put these two together and try to be objective

I agree that Tom's usage of Mikal has been super problematic. Tom's approach to defense in the modern era is asinine and that's why coaches like Atkinson basically coach circles around him with little effort.

But I can't give Mikal a pass as an individual either. 6 FGAs last night after what OG did to help the team early on is not cool.

Mikal could have been more aggressive last game but I believe it would have led to disastrous results. He is not an isolation player. He needs a screen either on-ball or off-ball to generate space but the Cavs were switching everything so it wasn't creating an advantage for him. Combine that with Cavs ability to shrink the court with the Knicks having so many non-shooters in a stagnant offense there was no place for him to operate in the midrange.

I could easily see aggressive Mikal being 5-19 with 6-7 turnovers or something while the Knicks lose even worse than they did. This was a terrible matchup for him. I worry about him against teams that switch consistently in general.

Shout out to OG for being super aggressive and throwing caution to the wind. It's not always the prettiest but someone has to do something with Brunson out and it has been working for OG lately. I just hope he doesn't hurt himself in the process.

[nedleeds]

Mikal excuses are just as soft as his game.

Meanwhile OG plays heavy minutes, plays back to backs, locks up bigger opponents and last night it was Evan Mobley who was 4-11 from the field for only 13 points. And yet OG still brought it offensively and attacked and played aggressive.

Mikal on the other hand, just soft. Dude should have been left in Brooklyn playing for the Nets where he can play for an irrelevant franchise, put up empty stats against bad teams and not worry about any fans or expectations

Run Mikal's splits against the impressive wins that bloat Thibs fake season.



Dude feasts on the Tankathon buffet.

[The KnicksFix]

Deuce is injured and Mitch was out.

Sent from my SM-S9080 using RealGM mobile app

WELL GEEE I DINDT KNOW!!!

I’m talking about when we are healthy, you need to start Mitch and deuce
And have hart and Mikal come off the bench
It balances the lineup in every way possible, but we haven’t seen any of that, and he won’t even try it with Mitch and Kat for extended time.

You haven't seen that because it hasn't been possible. Mitch is still coming back.

Sent from my SM-S9080 using RealGM mobile app

Mitch been coming back since last year
I hear you though, we need to see the squad fully healthy, I hope the playoffs is where we see it

[DOT]

Read on Twitter

The numbers presented this way are incriminating. And of course, we're limping into the playoffs which is our tradition at this point.

Can't wait for the yearly "if we were healthy, we'd've won, we'll be back next year!" posts.

[Guano]

Yeah nah. Mikal showed his ass but Tom is apart of the problem too and I want both gone this summer. It's not either or.

Package Mikal to Sacramento for Sabonis for all i care. Anything is better than staying put with someone who picks and chooses when he wants to compete.

I'm a noted mikal hater but hear me out. (Nodope, lookaway I'm politicking) This marriage is fcked. I'm not against trading mikal for a better player if that's an option this summer(a 2nd creator), but he is clearly not being utilized well under thibs and neither is kat. The worry though is he is going to get paid this summer and we're going to be stuck with him.

Idk, we gave up 5 picks for rip Hamilton and are upset that he can't take elite guys off the dribble. I hate it here. The finish line is in view and were cooked. Leon fcked up.

[HEZI]

Mikal excuses are just as soft as his game.

Meanwhile OG plays heavy minutes, plays back to backs, locks up bigger opponents and last night it was Evan Mobley who was 4-11 from the field for only 13 points. And yet OG still brought it offensively and attacked and played aggressive.

Mikal on the other hand, just soft. Dude should have been left in Brooklyn playing for the Nets where he can play for an irrelevant franchise, put up empty stats against bad teams and not worry about any fans or expectations

They’re not excuses lol it’s facts. Shyt happens for a reason, nothing soft about it.

Coming from the guy who thinks Deandre Hunter is a premier 3-level scorer and thinks “your turn my turn” ball is strictly ISO plays, I won’t put too much stock into this

Aaaaand case in point

[Guano]

Oh hell yeah, we've hit that time of year where needles bust out his graphs and charts. Love this sht.