Knicks · Game Thread: Knicks at Hornets 7PM (page 3)

DLeethal @ 3/21/2025 10:12 AM
LivingLegend wrote:Also on another board I saw a comment that you can't win with Kat because the decision making and D are so poor.

The suggestion was to use him in a trade this summer for another star level player that might work better --- the same thought has crossed my mind.

Just in a bubble if we were going against Celtics would we be better off as is with Kat/OG/Mikal/Josh/Jalen or would something like Mitch/OG/KD/Mikal/Jalen with Josh/Deuce and new center off bench work better?

Yes - KD is a turd and is ready for old folks home but I'd still trust him to make the right plays and play some D more than Kat at this point. More I'm watching Kat I'm seeing a guy that cares 0% about D and is happy putting up stats (very talented but leaves me wanting every night). Kat/Jalen pairing doesn't work because they don't make each other better and neither can defend.

Maybe it's not KD, maybe it's not Kat but we've seen this team play D about 10% of the season.

Maybe it flips completely come playoff time and we go on Cinderella playoff run before midnight strikes.

KAT is really good but I'm not sure we can ever get around the defensive downside of having him and JB on the court for 40 mins a night either.

blkexec @ 3/21/2025 10:13 AM
LivingLegend wrote:Also on another board I saw a comment that you can't win with Kat because the decision making and D are so poor.

The suggestion was to use him in a trade this summer for another star level player that might work better --- the same thought has crossed my mind.

Just in a bubble if we were going against Celtics would we be better off as is with Kat/OG/Mikal/Josh/Jalen or would something like Mitch/OG/KD/Mikal/Jalen with Josh/Deuce and new center off bench work better?

Yes - KD is a turd and is ready for old folks home but I'd still trust him to make the right plays and play some D more than Kat at this point. More I'm watching Kat I'm seeing a guy that cares 0% about D and is happy putting up stats (very talented but leaves me wanting every night). Kat/Jalen pairing doesn't work because they don't make each other better and neither can defend.

Maybe it's not KD, maybe it's not Kat but we've seen this team play D about 10% of the season.

Maybe it flips completely come playoff time and we go on Cinderella playoff run before midnight strikes.

When you have too many one way players, with a one way coach, you get one way results.

We could lose to a HS team one game and beat the champs the next game.

Something has to change. And I’m not sure small moves will work but I’m sure Leon will focus on the bench.

I’m curious what happens when you give Thibs a solid 10 players who deserve to play. Will he still be rigid with his rotation or open it up?

KEEPCAMBYNY @ 3/21/2025 10:25 AM
KAT for Giannis would probably fix things. Brunson for SGA also fixes things. Too bad neither has a chance of happening.
DLeethal @ 3/21/2025 10:29 AM
KAT for Durant could definitely happen. Hard to argue that Mitch-OG-KD-Mikal-Jalen is not more championship worthy than the current team. Would just need more bodies at the 5.
VDesai @ 3/21/2025 11:45 AM
KAT and Bridges arent obvious fits even after 69 games. KAT we have seen the offensive potential, but he hasnt improved defensively.

Bridges just aint it. Not a real 3rd scorer and no creation. Defense hasnt been good enough to make up for offense inconsistency.

Our largest salary bench player is Mitch who is a rotational big, not a 6th man.

The team needs more depth for sure. A wing with more reliable 3 pt shooting and volume and a lengthy 3/4 would make sense. My dream is still DiVo and McDaniels, but probably next to impossible.

Team feels unserious. They were tired, but not an excuse to lose to 2 tanking teams a month from the playoffs. We need to be better than this. There are enough veterans here.

I think Josh is more banged up than we know. He was amazing early this year and now he has lost confidence and seems to lack the extra gear in transition he usually has. He is our only leader on the floor without Brunson.

SergioNYK @ 3/21/2025 11:47 AM
Guys, let's pump the brakes! We are 43-24 and 3rd in the East!

It's not as bad as it seems.

Clean @ 3/21/2025 11:58 AM
LivingLegend wrote:
LivingLegend wrote:
Clean wrote:
VDesai wrote:Standing around and watching Brunson strategy has proven to be superior

He earned every cent of that max contract. Thibs offense is trash.

I don't know we've seen the offense work without Jalen -- solid games in Portland, GS and vs Miami. There does seem to be either fatigue or something amiss in the clubhouse AND we can't have a wing in Josh Hart who is afraid to shoot outside of a layup.

Having said the above ALL of our non Brunson players are limited with the ball in their hands.

Someone on another board said something that really rings true. How come every player on every other team (even scrubs) can dribble the ball into the paint and make a shot or a drive and kick. Meanwhile our guys are fumbling and bumbling, losing the dribble, running into people and bricking shit all over. Our collective skill with the ball in our hands is piss poor.


that was exactly why I wanted the all in move to be for Donovan Mitchell. He is a playmaker and shot creater. WHat do teams do once we hit the playoffs? They try to take Brunson out of the game because we lack shot creater/play makers. Instead we got Bridges that don't help those issues.
Clean @ 3/21/2025 12:00 PM
LivingLegend wrote:Also on another board I saw a comment that you can't win with Kat because the decision making and D are so poor.

The suggestion was to use him in a trade this summer for another star level player that might work better --- the same thought has crossed my mind.

Just in a bubble if we were going against Celtics would we be better off as is with Kat/OG/Mikal/Josh/Jalen or would something like Mitch/OG/KD/Mikal/Jalen with Josh/Deuce and new center off bench work better?

Yes - KD is a turd and is ready for old folks home but I'd still trust him to make the right plays and play some D more than Kat at this point. More I'm watching Kat I'm seeing a guy that cares 0% about D and is happy putting up stats (very talented but leaves me wanting every night). Kat/Jalen pairing doesn't work because they don't make each other better and neither can defend.

Maybe it's not KD, maybe it's not Kat but we've seen this team play D about 10% of the season.

Maybe it flips completely come playoff time and we go on Cinderella playoff run before midnight strikes.

I hold judgement on Kat until we get a coach that can make a modern offensive/defensive system.

Clean @ 3/21/2025 12:07 PM
ccch @ 3/21/2025 12:35 PM
Can't see us going anywhere...
1. KAT is horrible on defense
2. We miss Donte's 3 pt shooting.
GustavBahler @ 3/21/2025 1:37 PM
Clean wrote:

Thibs is a walking contradiction as a coach. He puts in many hours at Westchester. But on the court I see a game plan that doesnt look like much work was put into it.

12 players available, but lets consistently give our starters more minutes than any other starting unit in the league. And let them do almost all the work. Its lazy coaching.

As I said in another post 14 years without a trip to a conference final, and still going to the same bag of tricks. Ride the starters until you cant ride them no more. Ready for a new coach.

BigDaddyG @ 3/21/2025 2:43 PM
GustavBahler wrote:
Clean wrote:

Thibs is a walking contradiction as a coach. He puts in many hours at Westchester. But on the court I see a game plan that doesnt look like much work was put into it.

12 players available, but lets consistently give our starters more minutes than any other starting unit in the league. And let them do almost all the work. Its lazy coaching.

As I said in another post 14 years without a trip to a conference final, and still going to the same bag of tricks. Ride the starters until you cant ride them no more. Ready for a new coach.

I'm almost there. But the fact remains that the FO didn't give Thibs much of a bench to begin with. It is what it is. The kids are clearly not ready. Even if you make a case for Kolek, he plays the deepest position on the team. My hesitations around Thibs is I'm not sure it would make much of a difference if the team had a better bench. This year's team was flawed, so I don't have enough information to give an unbiased assessment. I will say that FO and Thibs have some work to do in the off season

GustavBahler @ 3/21/2025 3:08 PM
BigDaddyG wrote:
GustavBahler wrote:
Clean wrote:

Thibs is a walking contradiction as a coach. He puts in many hours at Westchester. But on the court I see a game plan that doesnt look like much work was put into it.

12 players available, but lets consistently give our starters more minutes than any other starting unit in the league. And let them do almost all the work. Its lazy coaching.

As I said in another post 14 years without a trip to a conference final, and still going to the same bag of tricks. Ride the starters until you cant ride them no more. Ready for a new coach.

I'm almost there. But the fact remains that the FO didn't give Thibs much of a bench to begin with. It is what it is. The kids are clearly not ready. Even if you make a case for Kolek, he plays the deepest position on the team. My hesitations around Thibs is I'm not sure it would make much of a difference if the team had a better bench. This year's team was flawed, so I don't have enough information to give an unbiased assessment. I will say that FO and Thibs have some work to do in the off season

I think It goes back to the criticism that Thibs doesn’t let his rookies, younger players, play through their mistakes. They won’t be ready that way.

franco12 @ 3/21/2025 4:28 PM
GustavBahler wrote:
BigDaddyG wrote:
GustavBahler wrote:
Clean wrote:

Thibs is a walking contradiction as a coach. He puts in many hours at Westchester. But on the court I see a game plan that doesnt look like much work was put into it.

12 players available, but lets consistently give our starters more minutes than any other starting unit in the league. And let them do almost all the work. Its lazy coaching.

As I said in another post 14 years without a trip to a conference final, and still going to the same bag of tricks. Ride the starters until you cant ride them no more. Ready for a new coach.

I'm almost there. But the fact remains that the FO didn't give Thibs much of a bench to begin with. It is what it is. The kids are clearly not ready. Even if you make a case for Kolek, he plays the deepest position on the team. My hesitations around Thibs is I'm not sure it would make much of a difference if the team had a better bench. This year's team was flawed, so I don't have enough information to give an unbiased assessment. I will say that FO and Thibs have some work to do in the off season

I think It goes back to the criticism that Thibs doesn’t let his rookies, younger players, play through their mistakes. They won’t be ready that way.

and yes- the bench is bad. but in San Antonio, the game was over in the 1st quarter. Why keep marching the starters out for minutes- go to the scrubs and lose by 80.

Nalod @ 3/21/2025 4:29 PM
5 min to go Knicks were down 9 pts.
Cam Payne was playing well.
GustavBahler @ 3/21/2025 4:59 PM
franco12 wrote:
GustavBahler wrote:
BigDaddyG wrote:
GustavBahler wrote:
Clean wrote:

Thibs is a walking contradiction as a coach. He puts in many hours at Westchester. But on the court I see a game plan that doesnt look like much work was put into it.

12 players available, but lets consistently give our starters more minutes than any other starting unit in the league. And let them do almost all the work. Its lazy coaching.

As I said in another post 14 years without a trip to a conference final, and still going to the same bag of tricks. Ride the starters until you cant ride them no more. Ready for a new coach.

I'm almost there. But the fact remains that the FO didn't give Thibs much of a bench to begin with. It is what it is. The kids are clearly not ready. Even if you make a case for Kolek, he plays the deepest position on the team. My hesitations around Thibs is I'm not sure it would make much of a difference if the team had a better bench. This year's team was flawed, so I don't have enough information to give an unbiased assessment. I will say that FO and Thibs have some work to do in the off season

I think It goes back to the criticism that Thibs doesn’t let his rookies, younger players, play through their mistakes. They won’t be ready that way.

and yes- the bench is bad. but in San Antonio, the game was over in the 1st quarter. Why keep marching the starters out for minutes- go to the scrubs and lose by 80.

Giving the rookies some pt is also a good way to motivate players who aren’t chipping in enough. No one is pushing them because most of the minutes are going to the starters. More than any other team.

franco12 @ 3/21/2025 7:12 PM
Nalod wrote:5 min to go Knicks were down 9 pts.
Cam Payne was playing well.

Which game? San Antonio or this one?

We made it respectable last with the Celtics.

Final outcome was still a loss.

Clean @ 3/21/2025 8:59 PM

Twitter is the worst these days but I can't leave it because of the sports talk and sports memes.
LivingLegend @ 3/21/2025 11:51 PM
DLeethal wrote:KAT for Durant could definitely happen. Hard to argue that Mitch-OG-KD-Mikal-Jalen is not more championship worthy than the current team. Would just need more bodies at the 5.

The upside with KD is it’s more of a short term move/commit if it back fires where Kat would be long term pain.

Plus KD pushes Josh to bench.

LivingLegend @ 3/21/2025 11:55 PM
Clean wrote:
LivingLegend wrote:Also on another board I saw a comment that you can't win with Kat because the decision making and D are so poor.

The suggestion was to use him in a trade this summer for another star level player that might work better --- the same thought has crossed my mind.

Just in a bubble if we were going against Celtics would we be better off as is with Kat/OG/Mikal/Josh/Jalen or would something like Mitch/OG/KD/Mikal/Jalen with Josh/Deuce and new center off bench work better?

Yes - KD is a turd and is ready for old folks home but I'd still trust him to make the right plays and play some D more than Kat at this point. More I'm watching Kat I'm seeing a guy that cares 0% about D and is happy putting up stats (very talented but leaves me wanting every night). Kat/Jalen pairing doesn't work because they don't make each other better and neither can defend.

Maybe it's not KD, maybe it's not Kat but we've seen this team play D about 10% of the season.

Maybe it flips completely come playoff time and we go on Cinderella playoff run before midnight strikes.

I hold judgement on Kat until we get a coach that can make a modern offensive/defensive system.

I don’t dislike Kat but damn ain’t no coach going to get him playing more D —- he only fakes effort in D (90% of time). He’s not dumb but he is like a 13 year old with decisions and he just doesn’t give a bleep if he gets scored on at rim 5 times in a row.

LivingLegend @ 3/21/2025 11:56 PM
ccch wrote:Can't see us going anywhere...
1. KAT is horrible on defense
2. We miss Donte's 3 pt shooting.

Yep on both.

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