Thank you! On KFTV, they were acting like us "minutes police" thought the rookies would save us from the loss. That's not the point! As you stated, OKC and other teams invest time into their young guys and play them as part of the development process. If thibs and company had that approach from day 1, we don't have to push the starters to 40+mins..in a loss mind you! Multiple losses with big minutes for starters and the bench totaling 35 minutes lol. The league is trending to 9-10 deep, and the knicks are behind.
Secondly, where was the timeout and adjustment for the 4th quarter when OKC started blitzing? To the naked eye it looks like JB cost the game, when in reality the defensive pressure forced him into poor passes and shots. Thibs lack of adjustment on the fly is a problem
Long story short, need some depth. But also, curious to see what the front office thinks because if this seasons turns into another 2nd round exit? What moves are they thinking of making and is Thibs the guy to lead them to the promised land. Great coach, but incredibly stubborn and short sighted.
Thibs is going to have to start trusting the rookies. We just played a bunch of bad teams and it would have been the perfect time to get the rookies some minutes. I just looked back at the box score of the first game of last season. Hart, DiVo, Quickley and Hartenstein all came off the bench and played a ton of mins. Compare that bench to this year's bench and there's no comparison. This year's bench is not very good combined with having a MUCH better starting 5 than last year and you can see why the bench isn't playing much. The issue is the long term health of the team and unless he starts playing his bench more, we are going to start to see injuries to the starting 5. I'm very curious to see how he handles tonight's game.
Certainly a fair point - but do we know how good Kolek can be? Same for Hukporti and/or Jacob Toppin... If Matt Ryan can't be trusted to play 6 mins on the second night of a back-to-back, does he deserve a roster spot? .. As you note - December would have been an ideal opportunity to give the rookies an extended run.
Great article, Tommy. IMHO, playing the starters massive minutes and not playing Hukporti, Kolek, and Dadiet will mean more wins in the short term at the expense of their growth and NY's depth. Also, some studies conclude that fatigue is a significant factor in basketball injuries. Thibs plays every game like it's the playoffs, but there are risks involved in his strategy.
Yup - reg season wins are super important for playoff seeding etc, but what if the bill that comes due to pay for the reg season wins is a short-handed squad in the playoffs??
Great piece but not much of a debate because we know what Thibs will do lol . Thibs is a good coach just set in his ways . He is going to make our young players go through “his process “ no matter what . All of OKC bench players that played are 2nd rounders no way Thibs would do that unless forced to by injury just not how he is wired . Hopefully his stubbornness doesn’t cap our ultimate ceiling . He is playing with fire .
However, this is the first time he's played with a team that has legit title hopes... wonder if Rose and the front office (which invests heavily in analytics) will have some tough convos with Thibs, esp if they are unable to trade for a player he is not thrilled with
Deeply appreciate how thorough and informative your articles are. Looking forward to the next piece!
Kind words are much appreciated!!
Thank you! On KFTV, they were acting like us "minutes police" thought the rookies would save us from the loss. That's not the point! As you stated, OKC and other teams invest time into their young guys and play them as part of the development process. If thibs and company had that approach from day 1, we don't have to push the starters to 40+mins..in a loss mind you! Multiple losses with big minutes for starters and the bench totaling 35 minutes lol. The league is trending to 9-10 deep, and the knicks are behind.
Secondly, where was the timeout and adjustment for the 4th quarter when OKC started blitzing? To the naked eye it looks like JB cost the game, when in reality the defensive pressure forced him into poor passes and shots. Thibs lack of adjustment on the fly is a problem
Long story short, need some depth. But also, curious to see what the front office thinks because if this seasons turns into another 2nd round exit? What moves are they thinking of making and is Thibs the guy to lead them to the promised land. Great coach, but incredibly stubborn and short sighted.
Amen Fabian... And we saw the same flaws pop up again last night in Chicago. Not great!
Thibs is going to have to start trusting the rookies. We just played a bunch of bad teams and it would have been the perfect time to get the rookies some minutes. I just looked back at the box score of the first game of last season. Hart, DiVo, Quickley and Hartenstein all came off the bench and played a ton of mins. Compare that bench to this year's bench and there's no comparison. This year's bench is not very good combined with having a MUCH better starting 5 than last year and you can see why the bench isn't playing much. The issue is the long term health of the team and unless he starts playing his bench more, we are going to start to see injuries to the starting 5. I'm very curious to see how he handles tonight's game.
Certainly a fair point - but do we know how good Kolek can be? Same for Hukporti and/or Jacob Toppin... If Matt Ryan can't be trusted to play 6 mins on the second night of a back-to-back, does he deserve a roster spot? .. As you note - December would have been an ideal opportunity to give the rookies an extended run.
Great article, Tommy. IMHO, playing the starters massive minutes and not playing Hukporti, Kolek, and Dadiet will mean more wins in the short term at the expense of their growth and NY's depth. Also, some studies conclude that fatigue is a significant factor in basketball injuries. Thibs plays every game like it's the playoffs, but there are risks involved in his strategy.
Yup - reg season wins are super important for playoff seeding etc, but what if the bill that comes due to pay for the reg season wins is a short-handed squad in the playoffs??
It was a great piece and hope there are some tough convos, trade or not. This game should have been a really important learning point for the coach
Thanks, Richard - and I agree... These two teams face off for a rematch next Friday at MSG, which adds to the intrigue
Great piece but not much of a debate because we know what Thibs will do lol . Thibs is a good coach just set in his ways . He is going to make our young players go through “his process “ no matter what . All of OKC bench players that played are 2nd rounders no way Thibs would do that unless forced to by injury just not how he is wired . Hopefully his stubbornness doesn’t cap our ultimate ceiling . He is playing with fire .
However, this is the first time he's played with a team that has legit title hopes... wonder if Rose and the front office (which invests heavily in analytics) will have some tough convos with Thibs, esp if they are unable to trade for a player he is not thrilled with
It's a problem for sure. Without being doom and gloom, his stubbornness may ultimately cost him his job if this team misses the ECF.
You called it Thibs will never learn treated OKC game like it was game 7 guaranteeing last night loss .