The Knicks faced their colleagues from the Western Conference in the unnamed Thunder on Friday at the World’s Emptyest Arena.
Each club entered the pandemic season perceived as tanking teams stocking draft choices.
A funny thing happened on the way for another Knicks lottery trip. Tom Thibodeau’s team started the best start of eight games in the franchise since 2012-13 – the last time James Dolan’s club made it to the playoffs.
Thibodeau and his defense, who is seventh in the NBA in defensive efficiency, received most of the credit. ESPN’s new broadcast star and former Thunder center, Kendrick Perkins, however, praised the new Knicks attack, also built by Thibodeau.
Thibodeau is finally seeing the light on that side of the court, Perkins said. Perkins was the center of the Celtics for three seasons, when Thibodeau was Doc Rivers’ assistant coach in Boston.
“In the time he was absent in his two years, he reevaluated himself and returned with a different coach, ” Perkins said on” The Jump “on Thursday. “Because some of the moves they’re making and some of the freedom they have on the offensive side – I’ve never seen a Tom Thibodeau team have so much freedom. But I love it. “
Soon, Thibodeau will receive credit for inventing the synthetic protein that drives the new vaccine. Seriously, Perkins’ comments on national TV deserve closer inspection before confirming their veracity.
Yes, the Knicks are playing at a faster pace, hitting 3 points more efficiently and moving the ball better than they did with Jeff Hornacek, David Fizdale and Mike Miller.
But what about X’s and O’s and more freedom? They are still 28th in the average score (104 ppg).
The real increase is the players getting on the clutch (hello Austin Rivers) – not Thibodeau’s offensive genius.
“I still see a lot of vanilla in that ending,” said former Wizards, Hawks and Raptors batsman Bryan Oringher, who ran a two-part recognition analysis of the Knicks’ attack and defense on Thursday on his YouTube channel. “But they are definitely defending. ”
In fact, the Knicks pivot, Mitchell Robinson, does not see much change from offensive schemes from one year to the next.
In the first eight games, Thibodeau kept the same five starting players – all returning players, including Robinson.
“That’s a good question, ” Robinson said after a shooting game on Friday, when asked about the difference between this season’s attack and last season’s. “I feel like it’s really no different. We are just tired of the seasons that we are having. It’s time to step up our game. We just arrived with a different mentality and went ahead. ”
Hello, Julius Randle.
He’s a different player after his long out-of-season training camp in Dallas – even if some in-depth analysis doesn’t show his impact as much as with the naked eye. (He is only ranked 51st in the all-inclusive player efficiency ratings. So much for review.)
Randle is defending and attacking offensively, with All-Star numbers of 23.1 points, 12 rebounds and 7.4 assists. He also played the second highest number of minutes in the NBA.
Oringher is still unsure whether this Randle is the “fluky” version or the new Randle going forward, saying that the Texas southpaw is playing “out of his crazed mind”.
In the return win over Jazz on Wednesday, Randle was eliminated in the second half, accumulating 30 points over Rudy Gobert.
“Rudy Gobert won the Defensive Player of the Year award and Julius didn’t care,” said Oringher on video. “He passed right by Rudy – ‘You are too small to protect me’.
“He’s doing what he did last year,” added Oringher. “He’s just doing better.”
RJ Barrett was so tired of losing his debut year that he doesn’t care who gets the credit for the 5-3 start. Barrett was not specific about the new offensive machinations used by Thibodeau, but said: “I will say that everything that Coach Thibs is doing offensively, defensively, is working so far. [We’re] really trying to have an emphasis on playing together, everyone moving and sharing the ball. ”
Don’t get me wrong, the Knicks stole from Thibodeau – and he was lucky that other suitors were involved in the NBA bubble restart while the Knicks were eliminated. But we are going to give more praise to guys like the return of the initial point guard Elfrid Payton, who, as Oringher says, “is the master of the 2.5 meter shot”.
And Reggie Bullock, who is healthy again, draining 3 points and fighting for lost balls. And Barrett, who is still not hitting the 3s, but is doing everything else, mocking the exclusion of the two All-Rookie teams.
As for the new additions, Austin Rivers became Austin Powers. Immanuel Quickley has quickly become the target of recruitment, so far. And when he gets healthy, sweet sniper Alec Burks will continue to turn the Knicks into a decent 3-point ball club.
Thibodeau showed a special talent for staying with the right players in the fourth period – a capital sin for Fizdale.
But we are also going to be real. The players – especially the returnees – are also making Thibodeau look good.