Guys are not seeing the ball and their man. They are more focused on being where they should be structurally and too focused on yelling out commands aka "talking on defense".

Too often guys get caught not guarding anyone. I wish I was good at recording and editing videos. I'll try to post something later.

One play, Thomas was standing on the left end of the foul line while his man drifted out to the corner. His back was facing his man, while he was looking at the ball shouting commands. He blindly drifts back to where he thought his man was but his man was badly beating him back door already forcing Noah to slide in to make a play.

That's the hole in our defense. Holiday was guilty of allowing that same play. Teams are feasting from 3 or backdoor uncontested. The Knicks absolutely need to show guys what they are doing wrong on tape.

fishmike wrote:KP has been dreadful closing out on shooters. He's given up a ton of open looks this preseason. Seems they have mostly been focused on the interior D and that's OK, but this is an adjustment that needs to happen sooner or later, else we see JR shoot 10-22 from 3 next week

The backdoor will close sooner than later, that is something more Noah will fix. The perimeter issues are slow rotations and guys simply using poor judgment in how much they can sag off the player they are guarding. Good thing is at all seems fixable to me, I don't see any personnel gaps that will keep us from making the needed adjustments.

Absolutely on all accounts. When the adjustments are made (and you pointed out the professionalism of our players)... man oh man

fishmike wrote:

EnySpree wrote:

fishmike wrote:KP has been dreadful closing out on shooters. He's given up a ton of open looks this preseason. Seems they have mostly been focused on the interior D and that's OK, but this is an adjustment that needs to happen sooner or later, else we see JR shoot 10-22 from 3 next week

The backdoor will close sooner than later, that is something more Noah will fix. The perimeter issues are slow rotations and guys simply using poor judgment in how much they can sag off the player they are guarding. Good thing is at all seems fixable to me, I don't see any personnel gaps that will keep us from making the needed adjustments.

Absolutely on all accounts. When the adjustments are made (and you pointed out the professionalism of our players)... man oh man

I love the coach... I love his verbiage and how he challenges and engages with these guys. I love his body language. I love that he said he wants to give his rotation guys 30 mins or so tonight "and see if they putter out." I think tonight is really telling. The ball also moved wonderfully last night, and the one guy who has held the ball for 1-1 play this preseason has been Melo, so I am very curious to see if he's a mover or a stopper.

I also think Lee really showed off his skill set last night. While he's not a "scorer" its clear that he certainly can in a variety of ways. With Noah and 4 guys who can really score, so long as we continue to move the ball this starting line up should be very good on both ends.

Same, I can't articulate it with specifics but seems like team is playing like team. Could be the mix of guys and Jeff's management, whatever it is, it's working!

martin wrote:

fishmike wrote:

EnySpree wrote:

fishmike wrote:KP has been dreadful closing out on shooters. He's given up a ton of open looks this preseason. Seems they have mostly been focused on the interior D and that's OK, but this is an adjustment that needs to happen sooner or later, else we see JR shoot 10-22 from 3 next week

The backdoor will close sooner than later, that is something more Noah will fix. The perimeter issues are slow rotations and guys simply using poor judgment in how much they can sag off the player they are guarding. Good thing is at all seems fixable to me, I don't see any personnel gaps that will keep us from making the needed adjustments.

Absolutely on all accounts. When the adjustments are made (and you pointed out the professionalism of our players)... man oh man

I love the coach... I love his verbiage and how he challenges and engages with these guys. I love his body language. I love that he said he wants to give his rotation guys 30 mins or so tonight "and see if they putter out." I think tonight is really telling. The ball also moved wonderfully last night, and the one guy who has held the ball for 1-1 play this preseason has been Melo, so I am very curious to see if he's a mover or a stopper.

I also think Lee really showed off his skill set last night. While he's not a "scorer" its clear that he certainly can in a variety of ways. With Noah and 4 guys who can really score, so long as we continue to move the ball this starting line up should be very good on both ends.

Same, I can't articulate it with specifics but seems like team is playing like team. Could be the mix of guys and Jeff's management, whatever it is, it's working!

Bottom line is I think we really improved on the squad that went 20-20 over the first half last year.