martin wrote:

knickslions wrote:Notes from game

Watched Randall work out for about 45 minutes. Was moving very well, shot the ball extremely well and had a serious sweat going. He definitely looks like he will be in shape if he can handle contact.

Hart and Divincenzo are all over the court. They both play as hard as I’ve seen guys live in a long time. Never take plays off. Deuce held his own and looks comfy out there. He knocked down some big shots. The difference between Cavs and Knicks is the effort on both ends. Every guys for Knicks plays hard on both ends. Relentless attack of the glass

I haven't been able to watch all the recent games. What's your take on Precious and how he fits into that relentless motor mode?

He obviously isn't as offensively talented but every time I see a highlight, Precious reminds me of someone who I would expect to see on Miami. Always making the right play. Always in hustle mode.

Maybe it's a contract year, maybe Knicks have gold on their bench?

I’ll chime in here as a big Precious fan.

#1 - think he was drafted by Heat in round 1 —- that clearly says something based on types Heat go for
#2 - his offensive scoring is hit or miss but the hits (explosive dunks, quick put backs, nice drives and occasional 3s show some upside)
#3 - he has clearly shown intelligence with how quickly he fit in with both defensive rotations (flawless) and his role offensively even in the perimeter handling the ball and making occasional nice passes (he is head/shoulders more effective vs Mitch on perimeter)
#4 - he’s just tough defending 1-5, protecting the rim, closing out on 3s, switching —— he’s clearly a Thibs guy

LivingLegend wrote:

martin wrote:

knickslions wrote:Notes from game

Watched Randall work out for about 45 minutes. Was moving very well, shot the ball extremely well and had a serious sweat going. He definitely looks like he will be in shape if he can handle contact.

Hart and Divincenzo are all over the court. They both play as hard as I’ve seen guys live in a long time. Never take plays off. Deuce held his own and looks comfy out there. He knocked down some big shots. The difference between Cavs and Knicks is the effort on both ends. Every guys for Knicks plays hard on both ends. Relentless attack of the glass

I haven't been able to watch all the recent games. What's your take on Precious and how he fits into that relentless motor mode?

He obviously isn't as offensively talented but every time I see a highlight, Precious reminds me of someone who I would expect to see on Miami. Always making the right play. Always in hustle mode.

Maybe it's a contract year, maybe Knicks have gold on their bench?

I’ll chime in here as a big Precious fan.

#1 - think he was drafted by Heat in round 1 —- that clearly says something based on types Heat go for
#2 - his offensive scoring is hit or miss but the hits (explosive dunks, quick put backs, nice drives and occasional 3s show some upside)
#3 - he has clearly shown intelligence with how quickly he fit in with both defensive rotations (flawless) and his role offensively even in the perimeter handling the ball and making occasional nice passes (he is head/shoulders more effective vs Mitch on perimeter)
#4 - he’s just tough defending 1-5, protecting the rim, closing out on 3s, switching —— he’s clearly a Thibs guy

Thanks. These were my takes as well, so it is nice confirmation. I do wonder about this offensive shooting upside.

Thibs:

“I guess [it’s possible that he plays Tuesday against the Hawks]. It’s a knee contusion and everything was negative so we’ll see where he is [Monday].”

Josh Hart, one of Brunson’s best friends on the team, joked in the locker room that he had to put up a triple-double because, “Jalen decided he didn’t want to play.”

Donte DiVincenzo, Brunson’s former college roommate, was also confident the injury was not serious but noted he wasn’t privy to the diagnosis.

“I asked him if he was OK. And he said he’ll be fine. And that’s everything to me,” DiVincenzo said. “Like I said the last time he went down [with a sprained ankle earlier in the season], I don’t worry about Jalen. He’s one of the toughest guys in the league. So whatever it is, I truly can say, I don’t know. Whatever it is, he’s going to bounce back. He’s tough as nails.”

https://nypost.com/2024/03/03/sports/knicks-breathe-sigh-of-relief-after-scary-jalen-brunson-injury-moment/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nypost_sitebuttons

DLeethal wrote:

fishmike wrote:

DLeethal wrote:

nycericanguy wrote:

fishmike wrote:this is exactly why you want to WIN GAMES NOW.

If the Knicks can keep fighting and make that 3rd seed they are looking at Cle matchup in the 2nd round instead of Boston.

Is anyone afraid of Cle?

i mean #3 seed could also mean MIA in the 1st round, or even PHI with Embidd back.

Gotta try to win but too early to really think about who we'd play.

yea its gonna be a dogfight no matter who we play, and truthfully we match up very well with the Cavs and the 7 seed would probably lead to our best matchup. We seem to have their number on defense. Even a team like Indiana we don't seem to match up well with but we haven't played them at full strength yet.

We are 1.5 games ahead of the play in. Literally a bad week from that. Every one of these wins is huge. Beating Cle on the road is huge for us. Finishing 2-3 would be pretty crazy TBH and prolly win Thibs another COY. We will see. Mostly I am worried about the play in.

These "rest Brunson for the big picture" posts are ludicrous. The big picture is Mia, Indy, Orl or Phili get hot and suddenly our season comes down to play in elimination games. We have anything BUT a comfortable place in the standings now.

I don't want the play-in as much as the next guy, but when you have guys miss as much time as us sometimes that is your reality. And truthfully if we line up against CLE in round 1 that might be one of the best matchups we can get compared with MIL or PHI with Embiid or Miami or Indy. If we have to beat up the Nets or ATL in a home playoff game to get there so be it.

martin wrote:

LivingLegend wrote:

martin wrote:

knickslions wrote:Notes from game

Watched Randall work out for about 45 minutes. Was moving very well, shot the ball extremely well and had a serious sweat going. He definitely looks like he will be in shape if he can handle contact.

Hart and Divincenzo are all over the court. They both play as hard as I’ve seen guys live in a long time. Never take plays off. Deuce held his own and looks comfy out there. He knocked down some big shots. The difference between Cavs and Knicks is the effort on both ends. Every guys for Knicks plays hard on both ends. Relentless attack of the glass

I haven't been able to watch all the recent games. What's your take on Precious and how he fits into that relentless motor mode?

He obviously isn't as offensively talented but every time I see a highlight, Precious reminds me of someone who I would expect to see on Miami. Always making the right play. Always in hustle mode.

Maybe it's a contract year, maybe Knicks have gold on their bench?

I’ll chime in here as a big Precious fan.

#1 - think he was drafted by Heat in round 1 —- that clearly says something based on types Heat go for
#2 - his offensive scoring is hit or miss but the hits (explosive dunks, quick put backs, nice drives and occasional 3s show some upside)
#3 - he has clearly shown intelligence with how quickly he fit in with both defensive rotations (flawless) and his role offensively even in the perimeter handling the ball and making occasional nice passes (he is head/shoulders more effective vs Mitch on perimeter)
#4 - he’s just tough defending 1-5, protecting the rim, closing out on 3s, switching —— he’s clearly a Thibs guy

Thanks. These were my takes as well, so it is nice confirmation. I do wonder about this offensive shooting upside.

His whole shooting process on outside shot is VERY SLOW - which isn’t good and you can see him internally questioning should I shoot this or not. Confidence and / or lack there of is so powerful and he’s just not a confident shooter. His drives / finishes are pretty good and mid-range push shot looks ok but he needs to stay in the gym (not Mitch’s routine 😅).

One guy that really sucked shooting as a rookie but improved tremendously over his career was T Ariza but not many go from poor to above average.

Grimes was the opposite- great form, ultra quick release but both shooting without confidence.

GustavBahler wrote:

joec32033 wrote:

MS wrote:Nothing wrong with wanting Thibs to reduce minutes.

Hart is averaging 43 minutes over the past 7 games. Against the warriors no one on GS played more than 32 minutes Josh Hart played 47. That game wasn’t close, when games are over you get your guys rest, especially this season.

Tonight was a great win and a gritty performance, has to be a way to stagger the guys a bit going forward.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. You're 100% right. I just think right now circumstances are preventing that from happening and the numbers we see aren't what they would be if this team was in a normal situation and knee jerk reactions to playing time when literally 25% of your team and 33% (not counting Brunson) of your normal rotation are hurt and another guy is kinda on a minutes restriction.

Thats why its a good idea not to keep players in the game well past the point where they're needed to secure a win. Save it for when the extra minutes are really needed, like now.

Ive never seen a coach who trusts his bench less than Thibs. If Thibs had the hardware to back up that strategy, I doubt it would be written about, discussed as much as it has over the years.

Its the polar opposite of how Pops has done it, before the league cracked down. With Thibs, any pressure would have to come from the FO, but Thibs coaches like he has a blank check.

I agree with the bolded part, but in this NBA what is that point? We have seen so many times the Knicks up by 30 only for a team to come back This isn't the NBA from 10 years ago where a 20 point lead with 6 minutes to go is safe.

KnickDanger wrote:

nycericanguy wrote:this thibs talk is crazy, any coach is going to have to play guys big minutes if you're missing 3-4 starters every night. As for last night, probably best W of the season. we needed that game.

I wonder if there would have been criticism if Thibs put say JHart and Deuce on minutes restrictions and we lost the game. I’m not saying Thibs should be free from criticism, but the nature of so much of it is…how do you say it? Cockamamie. Brunson, Randle, OG, Mitch are not out because of minutes played, but due to physical impact. It sucks, I know some people really need a scapegoat to biotch about, but perhaps be real about it.

martin wrote:

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://www.twitter.com/RudeBoyNYK/status/1764644431980822738

How to say "Yeah, we sawft" without saying "Yeah, we Charmin sawft"

VDesai wrote:

martin wrote:

knickslions wrote:Notes from game

Watched Randall work out for about 45 minutes. Was moving very well, shot the ball extremely well and had a serious sweat going. He definitely looks like he will be in shape if he can handle contact.

Hart and Divincenzo are all over the court. They both play as hard as I’ve seen guys live in a long time. Never take plays off. Deuce held his own and looks comfy out there. He knocked down some big shots. The difference between Cavs and Knicks is the effort on both ends. Every guys for Knicks plays hard on both ends. Relentless attack of the glass

I haven't been able to watch all the recent games. What's your take on Precious and how he fits into that relentless motor mode?

He obviously isn't as offensively talented but every time I see a highlight, Precious reminds me of someone who I would expect to see on Miami. Always making the right play. Always in hustle mode.

Maybe it's a contract year, maybe Knicks have gold on their bench?

I think Hartenstein has the best "motor" of our bigs. Precious has taken up some characteristics of that, but with him he has been great about positioning for offensive rebounds. He is a little undersized, but he's been more ferocious on putbacks, cuts than he was vs. his first 10 or so games here. He is not afraid to go vertical and try to block shots. Biggest attribute is mobility and range on defense. A little similar to Noel in the sense that he has the lateral agility/movement to guard on the perimeter (for at least a short period) and then come back to the interior to rim protect.

On offense, he has some touch in the paint, but is best on put backs, and cuts/pick and rolls. He has more versatility than Mitch and seems to be a more reliable finisher than Hartenstein. I don't know if he's ever gonna hit that Corner 3 at a good rate, but that would make him a lot of money. The little bit of extra range he has on both ends allows him to backup the 4 spot reliably.

Smaller version of Noel but without the bad hands. And some upside on the offensive end of things. I literally can't tell anything about this shot potential.