thebuzzardman wrote:BBALLER4FR wrote:I'm not even worried about Kemba. He's done in NY. Rose went down, Burks hasn't worked, IQ's less than ideal and Kemba still didn't take off the warmup (thank goodness cause we needed to see McBride). Thibs let you know he doesn't want to see Kemba on the floor for whatever reason. And anyone who says it's because of his defense, make it make sense why Fournier gets the minutes he gets. Neither play defense but I trust Kemba's shooting FAR more than Evan's.
I'll take a shot at unpacking this. I have no idea btw.
There are various factions in the Knicks FO, and Thibs is a faction himself. Thibs might have been ok with Fournier but not with Walker. It's possible he's not wild about either.
In any event, the amount of money Kemba makes made it easy to bench him, while with Friar Suck, it's harder to justify.
Thibs has had his FO run ins over the years and probably learned a thing or three.
He knows he has to win.
He also knows he has to make a case for why some players aren't good.
Thibs figured maybe he could bench Kemba and team would get better, but if he had an inkling it wouldn't work, that maybe it would spotlight Fournier.
Maybe he thought that Fournier and Kemba and Randle too many lackluster defenders and tried removing just one.
I think Thibs kind of knows what the issues are and makes changes incrementally, trying to fix the issue with the smallest changes possible just for himself, but also because of FO dynamics.
I have no idea what the alliances are or how they shift.
I
am talking to the rest of the world on this topic - well the ~10 reg posters I don't have on ignore - but I seem to be keeping on responding in the last couple of days exclusively to your posts about The French Friar.
Tbh, I hadn't paid too much attention until I looked at the numbers. And then watching Randle's dismal game against Houston was the final straw.
Look, I was one of the people saying Randle was getting
far, far too much criticism in 2019-2020, and I was super impressed by his season last year. And I, surely, thought the new contract was a bargain for the Knicks.
But there's something really wrong with his game through these ~24(?? lost count??) games. He does some things in sync, but so many things are off-kilter that it's bemusing.
The FO's shot at signing Kemba? - that was a gambol and blew up and now he's in bubble-wrap waiting for someone to offer a minimal value 2RP. Whatever, maybe a bit reckless, maybe worth the punt.
Fournier looked ok-ish last night. Yeah - I know you were hating on him, and, yeah, his D is poor (but it always was), but I'm really sure that the Knicks are just using him inappropriately. He should be taking 3pt shots on ~33% of "his" possessions - where the rest is shots inside the arc, drives and pull-ups and shoots or passes for the assist / get to the rim and get a decent amount of FTA from that. Now, the volume overall is something adjustable to whatever the rest of the roster gives you/leaves him.
The question is: why are the Knicks misusing him? Possible answers include: (i) Randle can't play any other way, (ii) lolThibs can't understand this isn't a 1-1 replacement for Bullock, (iii) RJ is a bust and also soaks up possessions on which Fournier would be creating, (iv) the Knicks O rotations are terrible and there is no 3pt shooting giving EF some space on the drive and options which can make a shot on the kick-out.
Solutions? Yes. Probably have to separate Randle and Fournier to see if that helps. Start Obi and Fournier. Or use Fournier and Obi as a direct, same time swap for Randle and Burks (or whoever). Other options: trade Randle; hope Fournier can show more non-3pt game in the next month in order to try to persuade other teams this really was on the Knicks not EF and it is safe to trade for him -
extremely coaching dependent; sack Thibs (my favourite); bad boy shooting practice for everyone whenever the team shoots under 33% from 3pt-land.
