blkexec wrote:

Rookie wrote:

martin wrote:

EwingsGlass wrote:

martin wrote:

jskinny35 wrote:

EwingsGlass wrote:Watching Randle lately, he is a step away from being elite. That’s not garbage. Or a throw away. He’s made real strides to improve shot selection and that was key. He is now settling for jumpers less. He is a little too willing to shoot the 3 with a hand in his face. He’s feast or famine there. 0-9 one game. 6-6 the next. I think we would all accept 6 for 15. It’s just that the 0-9 is glaring and the 6-6 gets overlooked.

Randle’s defense has been legit also. Guys have bad games against him. Giannis had 24 points, yeah, but that was a bad game for Giannis in an offense orchestrated to let Giannis score.

He needs to pick his head up with the passing. With his offensive skills, he could avg 6-7 assists per game. More than Siakam. He just doesn’t for reasons aforementioned. He kind of decides which possessions he is shooting and that’s that. Maybe a jump pass if he gets stuck. More likely a long jumper.

It’s time to put it all together and be elite. I think he can do it. He’s taken the right step to get me from coin flip on which Randle shows up this year. Now, he’s gotta add the passing and court vision to get All NBA PF.

I have been one of Randle's biggest critics and I still don't trust him leading our team and worry about the low BB IQ... that said I will admit he's played harder/more consistently on defense and has reduced the frequency of bone headed plays, spinovers and sulking when things are not going well. I still don't believe we should anchor to him but he's definitely been easier to root for this season. Wouldn't expect him to improve his court vision in year 9-10 and think we should accept him for what he is - a hardworking, feast or famine type of player that can help but not be the primary leader on a high level team. With him in the primary role here - we should anticipate more nights where we wonder if he can take the next step...followed 2 nights later with us all pulling our hair out and thinking he needs to go.

I do wonder if a different offensive focus (eg Brunson) would be a better way to get the most out of Randle as it would force him to be more selective with his shooting and hopefully more efficient overall.

I think it’s pretty clear that the team needs 1 more player that is better than Brunson and Randle both, and when that happens, things will sort themselves out.

I think Thibs needs to reel Randle in when he starts playing too loose. He’s at his best when playing tight.

I know ATL handed us a nasty loss, but those assist numbers in the first unit were solid. I was looking for that. I think the second unit with Hart, Fournier and Toppin hasn’t got enough defense to translate. I really would be using Cam there. Second unit is a sieve and can’t get a stop.

Yep. Randle is not the most engaged player or the most mentally sharp. Gets caught up

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This was the 4th time we played them. You’d have to think they had gone over film and knew what Toronto was going to do. I have to ask, is Randle coachable. Then there are instances of RJ and Brunson getting trapped as well and I have to ask is it bad coaching

This clip summaries why I was against building a team around Randle as the top dog. This also shows you the challenge to play against a zone. You have to have a certain skill set and even Brunson (who’s a great guard) was fumbling and stumbling. If players don’t know how to beat a zone by now, who’s at fault? Holding the ball against the zone is not the best way, unless your an elite player.

Same issue at all levels of basketball. That’s why I love playing matchup zone but can’t understand why Thibs doesn’t go zone. I’ve had a team that sucked on defense. 1 on 1 defense was terrible. We had a few Fournier type players. But we beat the zone with ball and player movement. In the starting 5 we have three players where the ball sticks while attacking the middle. It’s like nobody trust the ball to make it back to them after they pass, so everybody is trying to get their own. As a result, we get this sloppy half court stuff.

Move Randle and / or Thibs. Just start over. Can’t say we didn’t try. It’s been 4 years of RJ and Randle. Randle is the better player but I rather trade him than RJ who’s younger, could possibly play off the bench. He can play multiple positions. Randle is not that flexible. Only plays 1 position and would never come off the bench. Or find a coach who can get the best out of RJ and Randle.

Thibs, RJ and Randle trio has to split up. Even moving 1 of the 3 will help. Still have our picks and yoots so it’s not a huge loss. And it’s not like Randle alone can help us win a playoff series, so there’s no impact on wins and loses. We lose with or without Randle just fine.

Randle needs to make better EARLY decisions. Has to do a better job with pre and post catch reads. Especially on doubles.
Feel RJ, JB and Randle all need to improve in that category as well.

But see no reason to move either of the three. They are good players that will get better and are highly skilled. They are also CONSITENT contributors. Something many of our lesser players are not.
This whole lets start all over narrative leaves out the fact that prior to recent slide, we had one of the best starts in many years and were sitting in a place to contend for the 4 spot.

Right now we have a second unit/depth problem. Deuce should be in the G league. We are playing 4 on 5 when he is in. Tired of guys claiming his defense is enough. It is not. He is not keeping everyone from scoring. Shooting 33/27 is unacceptable for a rotation player. .
Obi had a good start but will need time to get back to where he was prior to injury. He is still awfully one dimensional.
Let's not leave out that our best bench player was out. Our best interior defender was out. Our back up bigs cannot score unless given a pass at the rim. Love when guys say that because we cannot build around Randle we should trade him. Guess same fans think all the rest of our players are worth building around? Can we build around Obi? Trade him. Build around JB? Trade him. RJ? Trade him!

Fyi, The guy providing video breakdown should spend more time on EF's inability to cover a bed than three bad reads from our best player.
Maybe we would have done a bit better against the zone, if we had guys that could score in the second unit?
Btw, anyone that has played the sport knows that you beat a zone by having a good big man facilitator that can shoot the ball at the high post/foul line. We have no one that can. Agree that ball movement can be better and that we rarely have a scheme to properly attack the zone. Not sure if that is sole reason for struggling against it though. I actually see that we just do not make outside shots. Going back to my wish that we add two way shooters to the roster.

Do feel that instead of jumping on some knee jerk fire Thibs, trade everyone bandwagon, I'll go with lets get healthy and add some better pieces.
Which includes a solid number ONE before claiming "Can’t say we didn’t try". Anyone watching can see we have made good strides but need to make obvious adjustments. One is to get rid of guys making close to $20 Million and is on the bench. Guys that are one dimensional. We have several.
I would get rid of the fat before going after our producers. As will our professional FO.

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martin wrote:Don't know what to make of this:

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AND he's not a finesse guy so he's brining his lunch pale and banging away all night.

Best part about Randle is nobody needs or wants him to be our best player and he gives up the ball. He's good 2nd option and if RJ ever "becomes" (not holding my breath) maybe our 3rd option

BigDaddyG wrote:

martin wrote:

HofstraBBall wrote:Randle needs to make better EARLY decisions. Has to do a better job with pre and post catch reads. Especially on doubles.

I think this is super key. And same with recognizing doubles.

Last night's offensive rut came when Randle, JB and RJ stopped making the quick pass and allowed the zone to load up on them. The benches success came because they did the opposite. Our mid 3 need to figure this out as the schedule begins to toughen.

100%

Deuce should be in the G league. We are playing 4 on 5 when he is in. Tired of guys claiming his defense is enough. - Hofstra

Hof, you are directing your energy to the fans when it should be at Rose and Thibs who hand picked deuce to play in the nba. They would not waste a draft pick for the G league. I don’t know any team that does that. They drafted deuce to play him in the nba.

All we were saying from the the jump was to play him. Our guards could not play defense, yet we had 3 young defenders on the bench. Can’t get tired of someone unless you play them first. If we based deuce performance on the g league, then he should’ve been a starter. Gotta play him on the main stage first then you can throw tomatoes at him if you like. Just save some for thibs and Leon who drafted him. The fans can’t draft anybody.

Regardless, he got PT on the main stage. He had his opportunity to shine. and we saw some growth and positive contributions. But with a tight rotation, deuce now jumps ahead of cam and rose. You can find all the deuce fans in the site and ask them if they would play deuce over cam and rose (No). So again, who you mad at? We also see and confirm some of the weaknesses some doubters thought he would have. Gotta play him to see what he can do. Clearly he’s not ready on offense for the big stage, but he’s improving his confidence. He already has the skill set. But whatever moves helps us win, I’m 100% behind it.

blkexec wrote:

Deuce should be in the G league. We are playing 4 on 5 when he is in. Tired of guys claiming his defense is enough. - Hofstra

Hof, you are directing your energy to the fans when it should be at Rose and Thibs who hand picked deuce to play in the nba. They would not waste a draft pick for the G league. I don’t know any team that does that. They drafted deuce to play him in the nba.

All we were saying from the the jump was to play him. Our guards could not play defense, yet we had 3 young defenders on the bench. Can’t get tired of someone unless you play them first. If we based deuce performance on the g league, then he should’ve been a starter. Gotta play him on the main stage first then you can throw tomatoes at him if you like. Just save some for thibs and Leon who drafted him. The fans can’t draft anybody.

Regardless, he got PT on the main stage. He had his opportunity to shine. and we saw some growth and positive contributions. But with a tight rotation, deuce now jumps ahead of cam and rose. You can find all the deuce fans in the site and ask them if they would play deuce over cam and rose (No). So again, who you mad at? We also see and confirm some of the weaknesses some doubters thought he would have. Gotta play him to see what he can do. Clearly he’s not ready on offense for the big stage, but he’s improving his confidence. He already has the skill set. But whatever moves helps us win, I’m 100% behind it.

I respectfully agree with everything you said, minus the bolded part which is unfair. Deuce was drafted in the second round. Rose and Thibs hand picked him to develop to see if he can play in the NBA. On top of that you don't know what role they saw he could play in the NBA. They may have drafted him because the saw the next Tony Allen or maybe even Marcus Smart.

HofstraBBall wrote:

blkexec wrote:

Deuce should be in the G league. We are playing 4 on 5 when he is in. Tired of guys claiming his defense is enough. - Hofstra

Hof, you are directing your energy to the fans when it should be at Rose and Thibs who hand picked deuce to play in the nba. They would not waste a draft pick for the G league. I don’t know any team that does that. They drafted deuce to play him in the nba.

All we were saying from the the jump was to play him. Our guards could not play defense, yet we had 3 young defenders on the bench. Can’t get tired of someone unless you play them first. If we based deuce performance on the g league, then he should’ve been a starter. Gotta play him on the main stage first then you can throw tomatoes at him if you like. Just save some for thibs and Leon who drafted him. The fans can’t draft anybody.

Regardless, he got PT on the main stage. He had his opportunity to shine. and we saw some growth and positive contributions. But with a tight rotation, deuce now jumps ahead of cam and rose. You can find all the deuce fans in the site and ask them if they would play deuce over cam and rose (No). So again, who you mad at? We also see and confirm some of the weaknesses some doubters thought he would have. Gotta play him to see what he can do. Clearly he’s not ready on offense for the big stage, but he’s improving his confidence. He already has the skill set. But whatever moves helps us win, I’m 100% behind it.

Not tired of Deuce. No reason to blame anyone. He was a 36 pick. Typical spot for a role player. Which is all he has proven he can be thus far. His lack of aggressiveness, production on offense will keep him from being a rotational player in the NBA.
Only tired of the fans that have unrealistic expectations or condemnations despite stats and obvious lack of production or historical proof to back their opinion. .
Many think I am a big Randle fan. Fact is I am more a Randle hater opposer due to those fans ignoring Randle's production and obvious strengths. Also never hated guys like Frank or Deuce. Want all Knick players to succeed.
Imho, players that will excel in the NBA have alpha personalities and are not afraid of the moment. They have Uber confidence to go along with skill set. Ie. Grimes and IQ. You see that in just minutes. Deuce has received many minutes and does not have that. Also, mechanics is big for me, his outside shot is flawed mechanically. So love his effort on defense. Has a lot of heart and motor. Unfortunately, like I have mentioned several times, feel we have too many one dimensional players and need to trade them for proven two ways.

It was literally only one play but it's why I loved it too. Like one of the very few times Deuce showed some aggression. Just needs to build on it.

McBride gotta keep getting into heart of defense. Making 3's super important to set up the dribble drive. Finishing at rim will also help keep guys on perimeter open.

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NYKMentality wrote:Absolutely amazing what a natural PG (Brunson) can do for an extremely talented top 1-3 NBA PF (Julius Randle)

⭐2022-2023⭐
35.7 Minutes Per Game.
24.6 Points Per Game
10.9 Rebounds Per Game
4.0 Assists Per Game. ✔️
0.3 Blocks per Game
.346% 3pt avg
.460% FG Percentage
.534% eFG% ✔️
.581% True Shooting Percentage ✔️
21.1 Player Efficiency Rating

vs. Patrick Ewing 1990-91 (28 y/o)

38.3 Minutes Per Game.
26.2 Points Per Game ✔️
11.2 Rebounds Per Game ✔️
3.0 Assists Per Game.
3.0 Blocks per Game ✔️
.00% 3pt avg
.514% FG Percentage ✔️
.514% eFG%
.561% True Shooting Percentage
23.7 Player Efficiency Rating ✔️

Overall pretty close. Biggest difference is blocks, by far. Points and RBs to Ewing, but close esp with 2.5 minutes more per game. 3pt and True shooting to Randle.