Knicks · Knicks analytics and shooting, McBride has been a good development player (page 1)
RJ, Randle, Brunson, Grimes, McBride, DDV... maybe it is coincidence but it just feels to me like they have been coached all the same way and drilled and drilled on 3point shooting form.
https://theathletic.com/5317698/2024/03/...
It never looked like Miles McBride’s legs were on borrowed time.McBride put a little extra oomph into his dagger 3-pointer Sunday, the one that extended the New York Knicks’ lead to nine with only a half-minute remaining in their upset victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers. He hopped to his left to field a pass from Donte DiVincenzo and bent his knees as if he were ready for a fresh set of squats.
Even on a normal day, the 23-year-old puts the “jump” in jump shot. He’s not one of those dudes who barely leaves his feet. But on this one, it was like he wanted his cranium to scuff the arena ceiling.
Whether conscious or subconscious, McBride had reminded his body not to let him down. And that’s because his legs had been churning all night.
McBride entered Sunday’s 107-98 win only 47 seconds into the first quarter after Jalen Brunson injured his knee. McBride never exited. That’s 47 minutes, 13 seconds of play in an NBA game without a rest. The final jumper, the corner 3 to seal a gutsy road victory, did not have to go so smoothly.
“That was a lot of trust coach (Tom Thibodeau) put in me, and I just wanted to give it my all,” McBride said.
The trust is only growing.
McBride polished off Sunday’s win with 16 points, five assists and zero turnovers. He did it while defending All-Star point guard Darius Garland for much of the game. His final minutes were as energetic as the early ones.
“That speaks volumes to his conditioning, his competitiveness, his tenacity,” Josh Hart said. “At the end of the day, once you’re in it, that competitive nature kinda just takes over. He had that. For him to play 47 or 46 minutes straight — it’s absurd.”
Ever since becoming a regular in late December, McBride has risen to new levels.
The third-year guard was always a defensive pest — though he’s still learning how to run an offense, one of the reasons the front office acquired Alec Burks just before the NBA trade deadline. But a former version of McBride may not have lifted for that late corner 3 with the same confidence as Sunday’s did.
After hitting only one-quarter of his 3-pointers over his first two NBA seasons, McBride has morphed into a 40 percent long-range threat. And his coach, the same one who trusted him never to sub out of Sunday’s game, is not surprised.
Thibodeau’s support of McBride dates back to before McBride was even on the Knicks. The coach pushed the front office to draft him with the 36th pick in 2021, and he got his way. But that’s not the only reason he remains in McBride’s corner.
Long before McBride started draining 3s in games, Thibodeau was chattering about how the point guard was “a better shooter than you think.” The sentiment wasn’t because of blind faith, either. Thibodeau had the evidence to back it up.
The Knicks have high-tech cameras in their facility that track each player’s shooting performance in practices, and for the months leading up to McBride’s breakout, the point guard’s results had turned encouraging. All of a sudden, McBride was one of the Knicks’ most accurate open-gym shooters.
“I think you first have to do it in practice and then be able to transfer it over into games,” Thibodeau said. “But I think the one thing it does, is it forces concentration. And so, usually in time if a guy puts the work in and the concentration is there, the progress will come. … He’s put a lot of time in.”
When McBride first turned pro, his shooting form was inconsistent. More specifically, the right elbow was all over the place. On some shots, the elbow would pop out; on others, it would go straight up.
More important than fitting some cookie-cutter mold of what a picturesque jumper should look like, repeatability became the objective. Tuck in that elbow, and shoot the same way every time.
He started to focus more on quality than quantity in practice. Now, when McBride goes through 3-point drills, he doesn’t care as much about how many shots he takes; it’s about how many he makes. He has to hit five 3s from seven different spots on the arc before he can finish. Once he hits five in a row from one location, he moves on to the next spot.
The ball going through the hoop isn’t enough. A make in practice can’t touch the rim at all.
“It has to be making sure my finish is right. I gotta make sure my balance is right,” McBride said. “If all those things aren’t right, then I don’t count the make.”
There have been disputes, times when McBride thought a shot should be good and one of the video coordinators or coaches he’s working with insists the basketball grazed the hoop on the way through. But debates can’t eat into the clock.
McBride times the drill, hoping to finish within 15 minutes.
“That’s usually how long it should take,” he said. “Nothing past that.”
McBride’s work behind the scenes was enough to convince the Knicks that he deserved a spot in Thibodeau’s rotation. Part of the logic behind the trade for OG Anunoby and Precious Achiuwa, which sent guard Immanuel Quickley and wing RJ Barrett to the Toronto Raptors, was that it would give McBride a chance to play. Moments after New York completed the swap with Toronto, it inked McBride to a three-year, $13 million extension.
It was a nice payday for a player who had never contributed regularly — and who had struggled to create his offense. McBride was a 29 percent 3-point shooter for his career when he signed his new contract.
But the Knicks figured he was better than the in-game numbers showed. And today, it appears they got ahead of the narrative — because for more than two months, McBride has been a frequent contributor to winning basketball.
“Every time he’s gotten an opportunity, he’s played well, whether it was filling in for someone who was injured or whether it was in the G League,” Thibodeau said. “And he’s a great worker. … We’re very confident in his ability.”
McBride has made 40 percent of his 4.2 3-point attempts a game since entering the rotation on Dec. 30. Like on that final punch in the Cleveland game, he’s turned into a spot-up sniper. He’s shooting 41 percent on catch-and-shoot 3s, according to Second Spectrum.
He’s playing off the ball now more than ever. There was a time not long ago when Thibodeau would never play him and Brunson together. Now, he’ll use the two small guards in the same backcourt. McBride’s defensive physicality makes it work. The arrival of Burks, who the Knicks traded for a month ago, has meant more time in the corners for McBride, too. As a result, playing time is climbing.
Yet, even as McBride outplays expectations, obstacles pop up.
The Knicks traded for Burks (along with Bojan Bogdanović) because the organization didn’t trust McBride to run the second unit during playoff games. Ever since the departure of Quickley, the Knicks have struggled to score while Brunson is on the bench. McBride can shoot, but he’s still honing his floor general skills.
So New York landed Burks, a veteran it hoped could displace the younger McBride once the roster was at full health.
Once Julius Randle (shoulder) and Anunoby (elbow) return from their injuries, the rotation would be Brunson, DiVincenzo, Anunoby, Randle and Isaiah Hartenstein as starters. Burks, Bogdanović, Hart and Achiuwa would come off the bench.
And on Tuesday morning, the Knicks signed another guard: Shake Milton, whom the Detroit Pistons just waived. The expectation is not that Milton will play over McBride. Instead, he’s viewed as more of a depth piece, a break-in-case-of-emergency 27-year-old who has playoff experience from his time in the Philadelphia 76ers’ rotation.
Either way, McBride may have an opportunity ahead of him.
The Knicks are no longer holding their breath after the scare from Brunson on Sunday when the All-Star collapsed while shooting a jumper in Cleveland and couldn’t walk off the court without needing help. Though it looked like a worst-case-scenario injury at the moment, Thibodeau said Brunson has a knee contusion. X-rays were negative. The Knicks have listed him as questionable for Tuesday’s game with the Atlanta Hawks.
But if Brunson misses time, even if it’s just a game or three, McBride will be the one who steps into the first unit. And if he continues to perform, the Knicks won’t have an easy decision once Brunson, Randle, Anunoby and maybe Mitchell Robinson, who is recovering from ankle surgery, are all back on the court.
Based only on this season, McBride has outplayed Milton, whose defense isn’t as disciplined and whose shooting isn’t at its usual standards. He’s also risen a level above Burks, who has struggled during his first nine games with the Knicks.
If it keeps trending this way, then McBride’s season may end up replicating what happened in the Cleveland game: Once he enters, he doesn’t go away.
fishmike wrote:I continue to be impressed with what they are building here.
I hope Johnny Bryant can carry the torch when this is ready to hang it up here.
Surprised actually he has not been hired elsewhere. I know he gets paid well to be top deputy dog around these parts
Curious how knicks handle it going forward.
Nalod wrote:fishmike wrote:I continue to be impressed with what they are building here.I hope Johnny Bryant can carry the torch when this is ready to hang it up here.
Surprised actually he has not been hired elsewhere. I know he gets paid well to be top deputy dog around these partsCurious how knicks handle it going forward.
I'm not trying to be facetious but Johnnie probably waiting on Thibs to retire or keel over.
martin wrote:Nalod wrote:fishmike wrote:I continue to be impressed with what they are building here.I hope Johnny Bryant can carry the torch when this is ready to hang it up here.
Surprised actually he has not been hired elsewhere. I know he gets paid well to be top deputy dog around these partsCurious how knicks handle it going forward.
I'm not trying to be facetious but Johnnie probably waiting on Thibs to retire or keel over.
I think that’s the case. Thibs can’t coach forever, can he? Even so, wouldn’t surprise me if thibs moved up to the front office in a consulting role in a couple of years and Bryant gets his shot.
He is 75 years old.
I can see Thibs is wired like that. Granted, he has not earned the status to have that Leeway! Thats HOF chip kinda shit!