VDesai wrote:Up till last week Thibs was still starting Precious at the 4 with OG out rather than using Deuce and going small. I still think he has some hesitancy to go too small and that's why so many have been clamoring for more Deuce, but I think with Mitch back it seems he's more willing to surround Mitch with more "smalls."What I also like about what he's been doing is more offense/defense match up substitutions to close games or quarters. Mitch/Deuce/OG defender trio is great - add Mikal to that and you can either hid Brunson out there if you're out of timeouts and its an FT game, or have Hart in there if you can make a timeout and you need rebounds/loose ball gathering.
I noticed that as well. He wasn’t doing that when he first came, maybe it was personnel or growth as a head coach but I like it. The only issue is rebounding. We have smalls in the game to get a stop or advance the ball. But after we get that stop we got killed on the boards in a crucial moment of the game. But for the most part it works and most coaches are doing this well.
I always thought precious at the 4 was a trial run for the twin tower rotation. But you might be right. With Mitch back there, Thibs can rely on a 3 or 4 guard lineup which he has done before.
VDesai wrote:Up till last week Thibs was still starting Precious at the 4 with OG out rather than using Deuce and going small. I still think he has some hesitancy to go too small and that's why so many have been clamoring for more Deuce, but I think with Mitch back it seems he's more willing to surround Mitch with more "smalls."What I also like about what he's been doing is more offense/defense match up substitutions to close games or quarters. Mitch/Deuce/OG defender trio is great - add Mikal to that and you can either hid Brunson out there if you're out of timeouts and its an FT game, or have Hart in there if you can make a timeout and you need rebounds/loose ball gathering.
Could be as simple as Deuce wasn't 100% or Thibs and staff wanted to see what they had in a Precious/KAT front court. Deuce brings punch off the bench, Precious is not that type of player.
The Knicks biggest weakness is rim protection IMHO. Unfortunately, Precious is not that and Knicks gave him a solid chance to prove himself.
This offense will be a test on Thibs creativity Or this could be time for Thibs to take another leap forward on his offensive scheme, now that JB is out.
