Hawks: 100
Knicks: 96
Once again, I watch a Knicks game in hopes I see good ball movement, crisp passes, guys cutting, finding the open man. Our offense has no desire to find the advantage. Instead, Knicks and Fizdale seem content on leaning back onto the bad habit of ISO-ball bailing us out.
The defense was actually not that bad this game.
Couple Notes
David Fizdale: Worst starting lineup we could have possibly did tonight. Portis, Randle and Morris as our starting front court should never see another minute again this season. Still questionable X's and O's coach. Another night giving RJ another 40 minute game in preseason. Much like Knox last year, expect him to run RJ into the ground by January.
Frank Ntilikina: 1-4 2 Points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists. You'd almost have to be a basketball purist to appreciate what he does defensively. He ate Trae Youngs lunch quite a few times, altering his shot with his length, forcing him to pass out of a few easy buckets he was hitting earlier, adding a couple nice blocks to his night. He is an average defender with the ability to show glimpses of above average defending. I think right now he's at his floor. Offensively, he's still a complete black hole if you're looking for points. He moves the ball nice and tries to set someone up with a shot. Unfortunately, he plays in an offense that doesn't suit his style. He's not ISO Frank. He should be the starting PG. IMO
Dennis Smith JR:First game back after sitting out previously with a lower back injury. First observation? He's rusty. Picked up two quick fouls in the opening minutest that sent him to the bench. Not a great shooting night for him either. 1-5 for 4 points.
Julius Randle: So far his best night as a Knick. Aside from two step back jumpers (Yes, two..wtf), he finished with 20 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks. His defense is still not worth talking about.
RJ Barrett: 4-14, 12 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and a block. It's going to be an up and down year in regards with his game to game efficiency. If Fizdale can tap into his inner-coaching and somehow teach RJ to reign it in a bit on nights he isn't feeling it, then he could be special this year. He's a plus playmaker, can bully his way into the paint, and actually finish. He did miss quite a few easy layups though. I'm chalking that up to youth. The flashes are there. You can see it. Even had a nice game defensively.
Kevin Knox: He looks like he's ready to be the first of our young guys to make the big jump this year. He looks much more fluid and confident. He moves the ball well, and stretches the floor. His shot looks good. He should be getting more minutes per game this season.
Last thoughts: This team is a 25-30 win team. They aren't well coached, or even coached it seems. I don't think Fizdale is the guy who can tap into and get the best out of every player. This team better find a way to keep it close, because we don't have the shooting to come back from double digits night in and night out. Speaking of keeping it close, I don't think we have one guy on our roster who I would trust to take the final shot.
DNP Coaches Decision for Payton, Dotson and Trier tonight.
And Hunter looks like a poor mans Kawhi.
And Hunter looks like a poor mans Kawhi.
He might NOT have. Fixed.
Phil,
Do you believe RJ Barrett has "elite burst that few have"? I find that hard to believe.
So my response to that comment remains. Earl Monroe was an all-time great. He did not have elite "burst", nor does Barrett.
Quote:
did you ever see Earl Monroe?
Phil,
Do you believe RJ Barrett has "elite burst that few have"? I find that hard to believe.
Dan,
I corrected myself. I meant to say RJ Barrett does not have elite burst that few have. But he does have.....
Melo - ( New Window )
But that has absolutely nothing to do with the question of him being a "special" run/jump athlete. He's not. Plenty of good players aren't but he's clearly not a special run/jump athlete at the 2/3 spot.
Nice comparison. Never seen that one before.
I don't think he is being knocked. I think the consensus is that he's a solid/average athlete that seems to have elite intangibles, a body of a 25 year old NBA vet, pleasantly surprising play-making and defensive skills.
Quote:
But he’s also not Roy Marble, Darnell Hillman, Dwayne Scales or the scores and scores of run/jump guys who got drafted over players.
I don't think he is being knocked. I think the consensus is that he's a solid/average athlete that seems to have elite intangibles, a body of a 25 year old NBA vet, pleasantly surprising play-making and defensive skills.
someone just said he will not be an elite player because he is unathletic
And RJ is not a special explosive athlete in the NBA. That is pretty clear. Doesn't mean he can't become a good or even great player. But that is simply true and isn't going to change.
And RJ is not a special explosive athlete in the NBA. That is pretty clear. Doesn't mean he can't become a good or even great player. But that is simply true and isn't going to change.
There is no chance they do this. Doesn't make sense on ANY level. In fact, I challenge someone to make a case for it lol
These games aren't really about wins, especially with what amounts to a new roster. So I give him a pass on some of that.
As for his schemes, I can't tell at this point. Maybe later in the season. I think he was hired to develop the young guys. At some point, the coach won't be expected to be a tutor; he'll be expected to win games. Fizdale may not be the guy for that. We'll see.
for
Kennard + Frazier
Decent proposal
Speaking of which, Detroit has drafted pretty poorly the last few years. Stanley Johnson, Luke Kennard, Henry Ellenson...
Quote:
Ntlikina + Dotson
for
Kennard + Frazier
Decent proposal
Speaking of which, Detroit has drafted pretty poorly the last few years. Stanley Johnson, Luke Kennard, Henry Ellenson...
Anak,
Considering Kennard went 12th and is only 23 he's more of a hit than a miss. Career .85 WS/48, career 40% from 3. I suspect he's on his way to a long and productive NBA career with his skill set.
Quote:
In comment 14631548 Pep22 said:
Quote:
Ntlikina + Dotson
for
Kennard + Frazier
Decent proposal
Speaking of which, Detroit has drafted pretty poorly the last few years. Stanley Johnson, Luke Kennard, Henry Ellenson...
Anak,
Considering Kennard went 12th and is only 23 he's more of a hit than a miss. Career .85 WS/48, career 40% from 3. I suspect he's on his way to a long and productive NBA career with his skill set.
Isn't he coming off the bench? I thought Bruce Brown (who blows also) is starting at the 2 for them.
ok so what style would you play with this roster? what lineups would you use?
Quote:
Ntlikina + Dotson
for
Kennard + Frazier
Decent proposal
Speaking of which, Detroit has drafted pretty poorly the last few years. Stanley Johnson, Luke Kennard, Henry Ellenson...
Wow, yeah that's a bad list. btw, did you see what Nick Nurse said about Stanley Johnson? He roasted him for being lazy, ill-prepared etc.
These games aren't really about wins, especially with what amounts to a new roster. So I give him a pass on some of that.
Kind of sad some people can't recognize that preseason games can be used for this purpose.
Yeah, because they have the players who can do that consistently. The Knicks need an offense. Stop comparing us to the rest of the NBA. We're not.
Quote:
In comment 14631548 Pep22 said:
Quote:
Ntlikina + Dotson
for
Kennard + Frazier
Decent proposal
Speaking of which, Detroit has drafted pretty poorly the last few years. Stanley Johnson, Luke Kennard, Henry Ellenson...
Wow, yeah that's a bad list. btw, did you see what Nick Nurse said about Stanley Johnson? He roasted him for being lazy, ill-prepared etc.
Stanimal has been a total bust but it sounds like coach speak trying to light a fire under the asses of the new young newbies
"When TSN’s Josh Lewenberg asked Nick Nurse if Johnson and Hollis-Jefferson are contributing to the team’s defensive identity, the Raptors head coach had some pretty harsh criticism:
“Nope, nope, nope. Those guys have not understood A) how hard we play, B) our schemes, that defense is a priority for them. We’ve got some work to do with that crew. I tell them there’s a couple spots open come Tuesday night if somebody wants them. And I keep telling [them] show me you’re going to play defense, show me you’re going to play hard, show me you understand our coverages. And then whatever you do on the other end you’re going to get opportunities just because of who you’re on the floor with and they’ll come to you. You don’t have to come down and occupy 95 percent of your mind with how you’re going to break down and get your next shot. It’s not going to get you on the floor right now. So we’ve got work to do. We’ve got to find who’s going to blend in quickly defensively with this crew.”"
In a professional field we call that a trend.
Why would you not want to run an offense during warm up games to see what works and what doesn't?
Quote:
Both with the lineup and playstyle.
ok so what style would you play with this roster? what lineups would you use?
You're not asking me but I'll answer the question:
BIGs (96 minutes):
Randle 32 minutes
Robinson 28
Portis 20
Gibson 10
Morris 6
SF:
Morris 22
Knox 26
SG:
RJB 28
Trier 20
I would not give Trier's minutes to Ellington and I am frustrated that Trier hasn't been in the mix.
PG:
Not sure how this will shake out because all three have major holes in their games.
Quote:
do you watch the rest of the nba? everyone runs a ton of iso
Yeah, because they have the players who can do that consistently. The Knicks need an offense. Stop comparing us to the rest of the NBA. We're not.
i mean they did have 22 points on 32 made field goals so ball did move..
and post ups for randle or morris is not iso
Quote:
In comment 14631740 Torrag said:
Quote:
Both with the lineup and playstyle.
ok so what style would you play with this roster? what lineups would you use?
You're not asking me but I'll answer the question:
BIGs (96 minutes):
Randle 32 minutes
Robinson 28
Portis 20
Gibson 10
Morris 6
SF:
Morris 22
Knox 26
SG:
RJB 28
Trier 20
I would not give Trier's minutes to Ellington and I am frustrated that Trier hasn't been in the mix.
PG:
Not sure how this will shake out because all three have major holes in their games.
I agree on trier but i see the value in ellington, him just being on the court spreads the floor..
so basically you would have the same lineups fiz has been using
Quote:
In comment 14631743 nygiants16 said:
Quote:
do you watch the rest of the nba? everyone runs a ton of iso
Yeah, because they have the players who can do that consistently. The Knicks need an offense. Stop comparing us to the rest of the NBA. We're not.
i mean they did have 22 points on 32 made field goals so ball did move..
and post ups for randle or morris is not iso
22 assists
We don't have the shooting or the quickness to run ISO well. We're a bunch of mismatched parts.
Quote:
do you watch the rest of the nba? everyone runs a ton of iso
We don't have the shooting or the quickness to run ISO well. We're a bunch of mismatched parts.
post ups are not iso...
and the bigs actually fit together, portis and gibson are a good match and randle and mitch are a good match..
1 3 ppint shooter in both those pairings..
morris shot 40 percent from 3 last year..
the problem is not the fromt court, the bsck court has to have at least 1 guy emerge as a good shooter
Quote:
In comment 14631548 Pep22 said:
Quote:
Ntlikina + Dotson
for
Kennard + Frazier
Decent proposal
Speaking of which, Detroit has drafted pretty poorly the last few years. Stanley Johnson, Luke Kennard, Henry Ellenson...
Wow, yeah that's a bad list. btw, did you see what Nick Nurse said about Stanley Johnson? He roasted him for being lazy, ill-prepared etc.
Dan LOVED the Stanimal :)
He'll fill the quota left by Lance Thomas
Give a coach ten "80%" players and you can win, but it probably is a much more complex task that requires an old school nuts and bolts practicality with regards to putting together puzzle pieces.
Have we seen that? I'm not knowledgeable in basketball, but it seems random.
what did you expect, they told you how they were going to play, it is going tl be bully ball, when you are bigger than most teams you are not going to try to outgun them..
the knicks are going to muddy the game, post ups and try to slow the pace..
I'm sorry, but I don't think Bobby Portis deserve more than like 5-10 minutes per night, but it looks like Fizdale wants to give him significant run. Robinson and Gibson should be getting all of the minutes at the 5. Give 28 to Mitch and 20 to Gibson, if Robinson gets in to foul trouble then that's when Portis should get more time.
At the 4 Randle is obviously going to get the bulk of the time, and I would like to see Morris get significant time there as well. Knox should be getting 30 minutes per night at the 3, which in order for that to happen Morris is going to have to spend a lot of time at the 4.
Backcourt needs to be a split between Barrett, Frank, DSJ and Trier.
Ideally the rotation would be split like this:
Center
Robinson 28 min.
Gibson 20 min.
PF
Randle 30 min.
Morris 15 min.
Portis 3 min.
SF
Knox 30 min.
Morris 15 min.
Barrett 3 min.
SG
Barrett 28 min.
Trier 20 min.
PG
Ntilikina 28 min.
Smith Jr. 20 min.