That said its a few things

1) Health - he really slowed down offensively when he got injured and right before he missed time. Something was bothering his lower body/legs. He had a period in December/ Jan with no lift at all and he was falling even moreso than usual.

2) He did better with his low dribble. His biggest issue is turnovers and finishing. The low dribble helped him get to the basket while staying under control. Otherwise he can easily lose the ball, get stripped, be awkward gathering on the finish. He seemed to forget this at time in the playoffs.

3) He certainly was more aggressive with Brunson out. However, do you want an offense where we have OG taking people aggressively off the dribble a lot or Brunson? Ideally you stil want Brunson doing that, but having OG as a better option to get his own buckets did help us at times in the playoffs.

martin wrote:I've always thought that Brunson still has a long way to go before becoming less of a scoring PG and more of a set up PG early in games. And maybe that's not his game, or the offense and players didn't have that flow to them. The Knicks never figured that out this year.

During the Brunson injury, Deuce started and then got injured, followed by Cam getting injured, and then Wright running the show for a bit. Those guys are not necessarily looking to score for themselves.

Its marginal progress. Everything about Brunson's passing and creation got appreciably better last year. We had a lot of games where the ball was flowin and we got 30-4 assists. I think when things got tight Thibs and Brunson revert to Brunson ball - and a lot of times it works, but its ugly. Our guys didn't miss a ton of games this year, but various points were guys were compromised due to injury and thats when we saw this happen the most.

VDesai wrote:

martin wrote:I've always thought that Brunson still has a long way to go before becoming less of a scoring PG and more of a set up PG early in games. And maybe that's not his game, or the offense and players didn't have that flow to them. The Knicks never figured that out this year.

During the Brunson injury, Deuce started and then got injured, followed by Cam getting injured, and then Wright running the show for a bit. Those guys are not necessarily looking to score for themselves.

Its marginal progress. Everything about Brunson's passing and creation got appreciably better last year. We had a lot of games where the ball was flowin and we got 30-4 assists. I think when things got tight Thibs and Brunson revert to Brunson ball - and a lot of times it works, but its ugly. Our guys didn't miss a ton of games this year, but various points were guys were compromised due to injury and thats when we saw this happen the most.

100%. Knicks never had a good enough secondary ball handler, and Brunson Thibs whoever didn't have enough of that to help the team. And Knicks and Brunson absolutely have made progress compared to previous.

I don't know if Brunson will get to an elite level ball handling but he was also doubted on being a 1A type dude and now he is one of the best.

martin wrote:

SergioNYK wrote:More responsibility, more touches, more opportunities.

But it's not on JB by himself to get OG or anyone else going. It's on the coach and most of all the player himself to ask for the ball and make the most out of the opportunities. And OG wasn't brought here to be a 25 ppg scorer! He was brought here to be a defender and unfairly or not he should get a lot of blame for why we lost against Indiana again. He missed FTs and fumbled a pass in game one and got his ass handed to him all series long by Siakam. We didn't lose because he didn't score 25 ppg.

Right.

Or all the guys just needed time to gel and figure things out, natural progression of teammates and cohesion is a thing. Just ask OKC and IND.

I don't think that's the route - there is just too much poor ball handling, poor passing and poor decisions.

- Josh bad decisions and TO's
- Mikal constantly losing his dribble even when unguarded
- OG struggling to stay upright while making a move and constantly losing the ball to thin air
- Kat decision making

I think the # thing this team needs is 1 at a minimum and 2 hopefully professional ball handlers and passers who make good decisions.

T Jones for example would be perfect -- someone who can get ball from point A to point B and find open shooters (maybe even Kat off a pick and pop for god's sake).

I'd use 2 vet min spots on guys like this -- maybe a PG and maybe a bigger shooting guard - hell even a 3.

If Kolek is going to be the #2 PG -- then get a SG and SF vet min who can dribble/pass and chew gum.

GustavBahler wrote:I strongly disagree with those who say that Brunson doesnt have the skills to be more of a playmaker. Ive seen enough of his game to say with confidence that Brunson could be more floor general than scorer if he really wants to.

Remember the season Melo decided to lead the team in assists? He did it just to show that he could. He was Luka before Luka that season.

Its the same with Brunson, its a choice. If Brunson wants to share the rock more, dribble a lot less, he will. In the end that might be a more important sacrifice than all the money he left on the table.

This is where my head is. I also believe if he has the footwork to do what he does in the paint, he has the footwork to guard other players if only with his feet. And I’m not talking about drawing fouls. He has another level.

I’d keep him over Mikal if push comes to shove but my preference is to run it back with or core 4 and move Josh too the bench. We need a shooting 2 next to Jalen. Curious if Gary Trent JR. as a starter can elevate his game surrounded by quality?

jskinny35 wrote:I know Shamet can be very inconsistent but maybe if he were in the starting lineup his role would shift as he would have steady playing time? Def harder to play great when your minutes are starved and infrequent off the bench compared to playing in a steady rotation...

That would allow us to use Deuce and Hart off the bench which would balance us while improving our floor spacing with Hart not starting.

Not a bad Idea but hard to do when your mid season and josh was not missing games. Not like knicks were failing. 3rd seed and having to bring Mitch into the fold.
shamet was coming on very nice hitting his shots. Deuce knee was getting better and he was also playing more. Shamet defense was improving with his foot speed as he got into better shape as season progressed.

Landry might have been a part of FO frustrations with Thibs?

..>>>If there was just more time???? LOL