Knicks · Is it true Thibs teams didn’t practice as a team much (page 1)

I was listening to a podcast and they were commenting on the differences between a Thibs and Brown coached team. They were saying how Thibs teams didn’t practice much as a team. It was more about the players figuring it out on the court. I take this as they would do most of the work in film sessions and the players would have to figure it out and implement the schemes in game. Corrections again would be made in film sessions and maybe even individually and not as a group.

Knicks Film School July 4 Podcast, What Can (Mike) Brown Do For You. Starts at the 29:50 mark

I read the starters didnt practice much. To save it for the game. But I dont believe that was enough to lessen the impact of heavy minutes over the course of the season, and postseason.

Maybe if they had practiced more with the bench, it wouldnt have been such an ISO heavy squad. Brown Im guessing will take a different approach.

I remember reading about Riley wanting his practices to be so brutal that the rest of the league would feel like a break.

Sure dont want to see those days come back, different league back then. But Brown might be the happy medium when it comes to practices.

Everyone used to say he had long practices. Now everyone says he never practiced. No one can decide the narrative they want for thibs.

Knixkik wrote:Everyone used to say he had long practices. Now everyone says he never practiced. No one can decide the narrative they want for thibs.

So they were talking about Thibs teams being known to practice a lot before NY. They attributed his possibly adjustment to having a veteran team in NY for him not practicing or doing shoot around often. I was commenting on the podcast above, not some personal narrative. I guess you can’t listen to the roughly 5 min of the podcast unless you have an I phone?

Knixkik wrote:Everyone used to say he had long practices. Now everyone says he never practiced. No one can decide the narrative they want for thibs.

Players themselves say they never practice. Hart said it all the time when asked about his minutes load.

Rookie wrote:

Knixkik wrote:Everyone used to say he had long practices. Now everyone says he never practiced. No one can decide the narrative they want for thibs.

So they were talking about Thibs teams being known to practice a lot before NY. They attributed his possibly adjustment to having a veteran team in NY for him not practicing or doing shoot around often. I was commenting on the podcast above, not some personal narrative. I guess you can’t listen to the roughly 5 min of the podcast unless you have an I phone?

No this wasn’t directed at you. I am just saying over the years I heard his practices were tough and players were overworked, until that totally flipped and somehow the perception became the complete opposite. Just saying people complained about thibs just to complain, to the point where they couldn’t decide which extreme they wanted to complain about.

DLeethal wrote:

Knixkik wrote:Everyone used to say he had long practices. Now everyone says he never practiced. No one can decide the narrative they want for thibs.

Players themselves say they never practice. Hart said it all the time when asked about his minutes load.

Practice. We talkin bout practice. Not the game. Practice.

Knixkik wrote:

Rookie wrote:

Knixkik wrote:Everyone used to say he had long practices. Now everyone says he never practiced. No one can decide the narrative they want for thibs.

So they were talking about Thibs teams being known to practice a lot before NY. They attributed his possibly adjustment to having a veteran team in NY for him not practicing or doing shoot around often. I was commenting on the podcast above, not some personal narrative. I guess you can’t listen to the roughly 5 min of the podcast unless you have an I phone?

No this wasn’t directed at you. I am just saying over the years I heard his practices were tough and players were overworked, until that totally flipped and somehow the perception became the complete opposite. Just saying people complained about thibs just to complain, to the point where they couldn’t decide which extreme they wanted to complain about.

had a weak bench. Starters played more minutes. Practices for them were kept easy. Established ourselves as one of the best conditioned teams in the playoffs with strong finishes and a healthy roster. Time to let the Thibs stuff go. Guy built a culture here and fans should be sending him flowers.

Next year is basically run it back with a better bench

fishmike wrote:

Knixkik wrote:

Rookie wrote:

Knixkik wrote:Everyone used to say he had long practices. Now everyone says he never practiced. No one can decide the narrative they want for thibs.

So they were talking about Thibs teams being known to practice a lot before NY. They attributed his possibly adjustment to having a veteran team in NY for him not practicing or doing shoot around often. I was commenting on the podcast above, not some personal narrative. I guess you can’t listen to the roughly 5 min of the podcast unless you have an I phone?

No this wasn’t directed at you. I am just saying over the years I heard his practices were tough and players were overworked, until that totally flipped and somehow the perception became the complete opposite. Just saying people complained about thibs just to complain, to the point where they couldn’t decide which extreme they wanted to complain about.

had a weak bench. Starters played more minutes. Practices for them were kept easy. Established ourselves as one of the best conditioned teams in the playoffs with strong finishes and a healthy roster. Time to let the Thibs stuff go. Guy built a culture here and fans should be sending him flowers.

Next year is basically run it back with a better bench

The bench was top ten in ppm. So it’s not a matter of them sucking, it was a matter of them not getting any minutes. Less than any other team in the league, in spite of that stat.

GustavBahler wrote:

fishmike wrote:

Knixkik wrote:

Rookie wrote:

Knixkik wrote:Everyone used to say he had long practices. Now everyone says he never practiced. No one can decide the narrative they want for thibs.

So they were talking about Thibs teams being known to practice a lot before NY. They attributed his possibly adjustment to having a veteran team in NY for him not practicing or doing shoot around often. I was commenting on the podcast above, not some personal narrative. I guess you can’t listen to the roughly 5 min of the podcast unless you have an I phone?

No this wasn’t directed at you. I am just saying over the years I heard his practices were tough and players were overworked, until that totally flipped and somehow the perception became the complete opposite. Just saying people complained about thibs just to complain, to the point where they couldn’t decide which extreme they wanted to complain about.

had a weak bench. Starters played more minutes. Practices for them were kept easy. Established ourselves as one of the best conditioned teams in the playoffs with strong finishes and a healthy roster. Time to let the Thibs stuff go. Guy built a culture here and fans should be sending him flowers.

Next year is basically run it back with a better bench

The bench was top ten in ppm. So it’s not a matter of them sucking, it was a matter of them not getting any minutes. Less than any other team in the league, in spite of that stat.

lol and Knicks were a top 10 offense... statistically. And then there are some who watch the games. That would help your analysis

Bench scoring can get skewered if a you have a very good player off it. Per game:
Most Points Per Game (PPG) Among Bench Players In The 2024-25 NBA Regular Season (Min. 25 Games Played Off The Bench) :

1. De’Andre Hunter — 19.5
2. Malik Beasley — 15.1
3. Payton Pritchard — 14.8
4. Moritz Wagner — 12.8
4. Naz Reid — 12.8
6. Bobby Portis — 12.6
7. Keldon Johnson — 12.5
8. Corey Kispert — 11.9
9. Buddy Hield — 11.5
9. Scoot Henderson — 11.5

Duce was 5.8 pts per, Then Mitch at 4.7, and Shamet at 2.4.
We can all agree Thibs did not play them much but even preseason pundits had our bench as weak. I think Thibs did a fine job with the team as it was. As FishMike alluded to we were healthy and the minutes were not of consequence. Going forward it had to change as we were pressing our luck.

fishmike wrote:

GustavBahler wrote:

fishmike wrote:

Knixkik wrote:

Rookie wrote:

Knixkik wrote:Everyone used to say he had long practices. Now everyone says he never practiced. No one can decide the narrative they want for thibs.

So they were talking about Thibs teams being known to practice a lot before NY. They attributed his possibly adjustment to having a veteran team in NY for him not practicing or doing shoot around often. I was commenting on the podcast above, not some personal narrative. I guess you can’t listen to the roughly 5 min of the podcast unless you have an I phone?

No this wasn’t directed at you. I am just saying over the years I heard his practices were tough and players were overworked, until that totally flipped and somehow the perception became the complete opposite. Just saying people complained about thibs just to complain, to the point where they couldn’t decide which extreme they wanted to complain about.

had a weak bench. Starters played more minutes. Practices for them were kept easy. Established ourselves as one of the best conditioned teams in the playoffs with strong finishes and a healthy roster. Time to let the Thibs stuff go. Guy built a culture here and fans should be sending him flowers.

Next year is basically run it back with a better bench

The bench was top ten in ppm. So it’s not a matter of them sucking, it was a matter of them not getting any minutes. Less than any other team in the league, in spite of that stat.

lol and Knicks were a top 10 offense... statistically. And then there are some who watch the games. That would help your analysis

Sure you watch the games..

Thib's bench sitting, starter grinding ass is gone. Thats all the analysis I want or need. Glad ownership and mgmt dont agree with your analysis of the bench.

Rookie wrote:I was listening to a podcast and they were commenting on the differences between a Thibs and Brown coached team. They were saying how Thibs teams didn’t practice much as a team. It was more about the players figuring it out on the court. I take this as they would do most of the work in film sessions and the players would have to figure it out and implement the schemes in game. Corrections again would be made in film sessions and maybe even individually and not as a group.

Knicks Film School July 4 Podcast, What Can (Mike) Brown Do For You. Starts at the 29:50 mark

There were articles and statements about this during this season.

A lot of it is what you consider practice. I think it was both Josh and maybe one of the reporters who noted that they didn't run much full on 5 v 5 full court practices during the season.

After that, it's just a long season and you practice when you can work on and with whom.

Feel like only the Knicks fans care about this, no other team has this level of attention.

martin wrote:

Rookie wrote:I was listening to a podcast and they were commenting on the differences between a Thibs and Brown coached team. They were saying how Thibs teams didn’t practice much as a team. It was more about the players figuring it out on the court. I take this as they would do most of the work in film sessions and the players would have to figure it out and implement the schemes in game. Corrections again would be made in film sessions and maybe even individually and not as a group.

Knicks Film School July 4 Podcast, What Can (Mike) Brown Do For You. Starts at the 29:50 mark

There were articles and statements about this during this season.

A lot of it is what you consider practice. I think it was both Josh and maybe one of the reporters who noted that they didn't run much full on 5 v 5 full court practices during the season.

After that, it's just a long season and you practice when you can work on and with whom.

Feel like only the Knicks fans care about this, no other team has this level of attention.

Other teams didnt set records for playing their starters going back decades. So what they did in practice carried more weight than every other team who didnt keep their starters on the court as much as the Knicks. Glad thats over.

GustavBahler wrote:

martin wrote:

Rookie wrote:I was listening to a podcast and they were commenting on the differences between a Thibs and Brown coached team. They were saying how Thibs teams didn’t practice much as a team. It was more about the players figuring it out on the court. I take this as they would do most of the work in film sessions and the players would have to figure it out and implement the schemes in game. Corrections again would be made in film sessions and maybe even individually and not as a group.

Knicks Film School July 4 Podcast, What Can (Mike) Brown Do For You. Starts at the 29:50 mark

There were articles and statements about this during this season.

A lot of it is what you consider practice. I think it was both Josh and maybe one of the reporters who noted that they didn't run much full on 5 v 5 full court practices during the season.

After that, it's just a long season and you practice when you can work on and with whom.

Feel like only the Knicks fans care about this, no other team has this level of attention.

Other teams didnt set records for playing their starters going back decades. So what they did in practice carried more weight than every other team who didnt keep their starters on the court as much as the Knicks. Glad thats over.

Lots of other teams didn't make the conference finals or get as injured as the Knicks.

This beating of the dead horses is about as titillating as watching grass grow. But thanks again for pointing out the obvious a millionth time for the slow followers of the Knicks.

GustavBahler wrote:

martin wrote:

Rookie wrote:I was listening to a podcast and they were commenting on the differences between a Thibs and Brown coached team. They were saying how Thibs teams didn’t practice much as a team. It was more about the players figuring it out on the court. I take this as they would do most of the work in film sessions and the players would have to figure it out and implement the schemes in game. Corrections again would be made in film sessions and maybe even individually and not as a group.

Knicks Film School July 4 Podcast, What Can (Mike) Brown Do For You. Starts at the 29:50 mark

There were articles and statements about this during this season.

A lot of it is what you consider practice. I think it was both Josh and maybe one of the reporters who noted that they didn't run much full on 5 v 5 full court practices during the season.

After that, it's just a long season and you practice when you can work on and with whom.

Feel like only the Knicks fans care about this, no other team has this level of attention.

Other teams didnt set records for playing their starters going back decades. So what they did in practice carried more weight than every other team who didnt keep their starters on the court as much as the Knicks. Glad thats over.

I love how you just make stuff up.

Every Knick healthy at the end of the year. There's nothing else to discuss... unless you want to go on about how the bench forgot how to play basketball because Thibs didnt play them enough.

fishmike wrote:

GustavBahler wrote:

martin wrote:

Rookie wrote:I was listening to a podcast and they were commenting on the differences between a Thibs and Brown coached team. They were saying how Thibs teams didn’t practice much as a team. It was more about the players figuring it out on the court. I take this as they would do most of the work in film sessions and the players would have to figure it out and implement the schemes in game. Corrections again would be made in film sessions and maybe even individually and not as a group.

Knicks Film School July 4 Podcast, What Can (Mike) Brown Do For You. Starts at the 29:50 mark

There were articles and statements about this during this season.

A lot of it is what you consider practice. I think it was both Josh and maybe one of the reporters who noted that they didn't run much full on 5 v 5 full court practices during the season.

After that, it's just a long season and you practice when you can work on and with whom.

Feel like only the Knicks fans care about this, no other team has this level of attention.

Other teams didnt set records for playing their starters going back decades. So what they did in practice carried more weight than every other team who didnt keep their starters on the court as much as the Knicks. Glad thats over.

I love how you just make stuff up.

Every Knick healthy at the end of the year. There's nothing else to discuss... unless you want to go on about how the bench forgot how to play basketball because Thibs didnt play them enough.

Thank the award winning training staff, and medical staff. Nothing made up about being recognized for keeping the Knicks healthy in spite of Thibs breaking records for playing his starters. All true.

Took you 4 years to figure out that Frank had no bag. Try a little humility.

martin wrote:

GustavBahler wrote:

martin wrote:

Rookie wrote:I was listening to a podcast and they were commenting on the differences between a Thibs and Brown coached team. They were saying how Thibs teams didn’t practice much as a team. It was more about the players figuring it out on the court. I take this as they would do most of the work in film sessions and the players would have to figure it out and implement the schemes in game. Corrections again would be made in film sessions and maybe even individually and not as a group.

Knicks Film School July 4 Podcast, What Can (Mike) Brown Do For You. Starts at the 29:50 mark

There were articles and statements about this during this season.

A lot of it is what you consider practice. I think it was both Josh and maybe one of the reporters who noted that they didn't run much full on 5 v 5 full court practices during the season.

After that, it's just a long season and you practice when you can work on and with whom.

Feel like only the Knicks fans care about this, no other team has this level of attention.

Other teams didnt set records for playing their starters going back decades. So what they did in practice carried more weight than every other team who didnt keep their starters on the court as much as the Knicks. Glad thats over.

Lots of other teams didn't make the conference finals or get as injured as the Knicks.

This beating of the dead horses is about as titillating as watching grass grow. But thanks again for pointing out the obvious a millionth time for the slow followers of the Knicks.

Now its a "dead horse?" Guess you were the last one to ride it.

martin wrote:

Rookie wrote:I was listening to a podcast and they were commenting on the differences between a Thibs and Brown coached team. They were saying how Thibs teams didn’t practice much as a team. It was more about the players figuring it out on the court. I take this as they would do most of the work in film sessions and the players would have to figure it out and implement the schemes in game. Corrections again would be made in film sessions and maybe even individually and not as a group.

Knicks Film School July 4 Podcast, What Can (Mike) Brown Do For You. Starts at the 29:50 mark

There were articles and statements about this during this season.

A lot of it is what you consider practice. I think it was both Josh and maybe one of the reporters who noted that they didn't run much full on 5 v 5 full court practices during the season.

After that, it's just a long season and you practice when you can work on and with whom.

Feel like only the Knicks fans care about this, no other team has this level of attention.

This is the first time I heard this and I follow the team pretty closely. I just assumed that we held practice when we had the extra day between games. The team always looked like they played more team oriented ball after the extra day. I also assumed that the players were working on skills like shooting drill on the off day but now that I think about it, they couldn’t even make free throws so they probably weren’t working that much between games.

I’m also starting to think that Jalen Brunsons continued growth is a byproduct of his Dad being his coach and making him work hard individually. Bridges and Hart looked like they regressed offensively and Towns was relying a lot on his physical advantages rather than working his ass off to improve. All speculation but having watched almost every game it does put things into perspective especially the teams shooting inefficiency and struggling to make a free throws consistently

Rookie wrote:

martin wrote:

Rookie wrote:I was listening to a podcast and they were commenting on the differences between a Thibs and Brown coached team. They were saying how Thibs teams didn’t practice much as a team. It was more about the players figuring it out on the court. I take this as they would do most of the work in film sessions and the players would have to figure it out and implement the schemes in game. Corrections again would be made in film sessions and maybe even individually and not as a group.

Knicks Film School July 4 Podcast, What Can (Mike) Brown Do For You. Starts at the 29:50 mark

There were articles and statements about this during this season.

A lot of it is what you consider practice. I think it was both Josh and maybe one of the reporters who noted that they didn't run much full on 5 v 5 full court practices during the season.

After that, it's just a long season and you practice when you can work on and with whom.

Feel like only the Knicks fans care about this, no other team has this level of attention.

This is the first time I heard this and I follow the team pretty closely. I just assumed that we held practice when we had the extra day between games. The team always looked like they played more team oriented ball after the extra day. I also assumed that the players were working on skills like shooting drill on the off day but now that I think about it, they couldn’t even make free throws so they probably weren’t working that much between games.

I’m also starting to think that Jalen Brunsons continued growth is a byproduct of his Dad being his coach and making him work hard individually. Bridges and Hart looked like they regressed offensively and Towns was relying a lot on his physical advantages rather than working his ass off to improve. All speculation but having watched almost every game it does put things into perspective especially the teams shooting inefficiency and struggling to make a free throws consistently

I don't think practice and whatnot is as black and white as you suggest above.

Been well documented/repeated by players that the team didn't practice that often unless they had extra days off. Team spent a lot of time on film, but didn't practice heavy. Pretty sure the roomates have mentioned this and almost all the guys on the beat, especailly Fred Katz and James Edwards, have mentioned this. Part of how they were able to play heavier mins in games and perhaps why they were low on injuries. But maybe part of the reason they were out of sync as a starting unit.