CHARLESTON, S.C. — It’s one of the many Tom Thibodeau mantras, a Thibsism, repeated just Thursday at training camp: “You’re not a finished product.”
The Knicks seemed to take that to heart before last season.
Most of the players improved.
Some — like Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle and Immanuel Quickley — made significant jumps.
Still, as Thibodeau’s saying suggests, there are always more possibilities for progress.
Especially when the players in the rotation are exclusively under 29 years old.
The Post, along with the help of an advanced scout and longtime talent evaluator, looks at all nine rotational players and answers an important question for each: what should be a realistic personal goal for each this season?
RJ Barrett
Goal: An uptick in defensive production
Just look at the numbers. Barrett averaged 34 minutes last season with just 0.2 blocks and 0.4 steals. That’s tough to swallow from a player who had aspirations of making an All-Defense team. These have to improve if Barrett is going to play so many minutes. Plus, it’ll help his offense. Blocks and steals lead to transition buckets, and Barrett’s strength is when he has a running start to the basket.
Mitchell Robinson
Goal: Improve foul shooting
Duh. Forget about taking jump shots. It ain’t gonna happen. Maybe Robinson can develop a finishing move other than a dunk around the rim. But the real area for improvement remains that free-throw percentage. It was a team-worst and career-worst 48.4 percent last season, making him a liability late in games. The Miami Heat even employed a “Hack-A-Mitch” tactic in the playoffs, though it backfired when Robinson uncharacteristically converted.
Julius Randle
Goal: Better shot selection
Randle has the green light on 3-pointers. Hot or cold. It doesn’t matter. He took 636 of them last season, the most in Knicks history. Some of them were open and appropriate.
Others were contested and ill-advised. If Randle cuts down on the bad shots, he can raise that 3-point percentage from 34 to something closer to 40. He seems to agree. At training camp, Randle declared his efficiency “will be a lot better this year” while citing the significance of shot selection.
Jalen Brunson
Goal: Less tunnel vision in clutch
The easy answer is to improve upon his defense since Brunson was last in defensive rating on the team. But much of that is unsolvable with Brunson’s lack of height and athleticism. At least he draws a lot of charges. But the clutch thing is interesting. On one hand, Brunson was tremendous last season in those moments (we’re defining it as less than two minutes remaining and the score within a possession). He was the closer the Knicks had been missing. On the other hand, it’s not sustainable if so predictable. As a point guard, Brunson took 31 shots in the clutch with just four assists. In the playoffs, Brunson had zero assists and seven shot attempts when the score was within a possession in the final five minutes.
Josh Hart
Goal: Quick/effective decisions in closeout situations
Maybe this doesn’t apply to Hart after he joined the Knicks because he shot the 3-ball so well. But you can’t expect him to hit 52 percent of his treys again. The playoffs — when Hart hit 31 percent — offered a more realistic glimpse. So assuming his jumper isn’t so reliable and perhaps his confidence wavers, Hart can’t hesitate in closeout situations when he’s fed the ball on the weak side. It allows the defense to re-rotate and kills the offensive flow. And if his quick decision is to drive, Hart must finish better at the rim. Just clean up the entire action.
Donte DiVincenzo
Goal: Finishing better in the paint
This has been an issue for DiVincenzo his entire career. He’s an ineffective scorer inside. Last season with the Warriors, for instance, he shot a team-worst 62 percent on shots inside 5 feet and 35.5 percent on shots between 5 and 9 feet. There’s no simple fix, but DiVincenzo can do better.
Quentin Grimes
Goal: Patience
Grimes talks fast and he plays fast on offense. Sometimes it’s unnecessarily fast. Grimes has a quick release on 3-pointers and can take his time reading the defense, rather than jacking up a shot as soon as he touches the ball. As a point guard in high school, Grimes also has playmaking ability that gets lost when he’s treating the ball like a hot potato. Slow down.
Isaiah Hartenstein
Goal: Play smarter
Hartenstein has two solid attributes: his passing as a center and hustle. The rim protection is diminished by short arms, but Hartenstein makes up for much of that with strength and effort. The problem is he gets a little too overzealous on defense, which can screw up the defensive shape and, most obviously, lead to foul trouble. Hartenstein took the title from Robinson as the Knicks leader in fouls per minute last season. In fact, no player in the NBA had fewer minutes than Hartenstein last season with more fouls.
Immanuel Quickley
Goal: More defensive versatility
Quickley took so many positive steps with his shooting that simply replicating last season will be a win. He also grew into a strong on-ball defender, which allowed Quickley to pair with Jalen Brunson in the backcourt for a successful lineup combo. But when Quickley was switched on a bigger/physical wing — let’s say, Devin Booker — he struggled under those circumstances. It allowed opponents to target Quickley. The remedy is playing stronger, and Quickley recently touted his work with trainer Reese Whitely to pack muscle.
