These knicks remind me of those lillard/matthews/batum/aldridge/Lopez blazers team from a decade ago. A chance for a big "sum is greater than the parts" season since I believe all these knicks can be a star in their role
They remind me of the Lowry/DeRozan Raptors and Horford Hawks -- it should be a fun season. They also remind me a little of the 80s Bucks-- Moncrief, Cummings, Sikma
I'll go with the Lowry/DeRozan Raptors, with Brunson playing the part of Lowry and Randle as DeRozan. RJ is Rudy Gay, even though I know they traded him before they got really good.
Love it. I very much believe the continuity is a big plus for us, and appreciate the attempt to ‘quantify’ it - though that’s a very tricky pursuit as the difference is likely to be observed as an improvement in collective play among the ‘continuous’ players so it would likely be more of a ‘within-subjects’ effect than a ‘between subjects’ one. That having been said: I’m looking for the continuity effects to be most observable in the first 20 games of the season compared with last season. We got off slow last year in part bc JB and JR were working out how to play together, RJ was trying to adjust and adapt around both of them, etc. So I’d expect a meaningfully better record after our first 10-20 games than we had last season, assuming comparable schedule difficulty. Beyond that, look for us to be less variable (e.g., less hot and cold play, fewer fallow periods, etc) on offense and slightly better (although possibly slightly more risk-taking) on D.
Free Prediction (worth what you pay for it:) I’m also looking for improvement, especially from QG. If things play out the way I think they should, he could well be among the top5 MIP candidates at the end of the season. A very optimistic projection of his stats based on my wishful thinking ... I mean instinct, eyeballed regressions and insight... is 18p/4.5r/5a at roughly 30 mins/game.
Couldn't agree more with all of the above in the first paragraph. Love the within/between note. Gonna steal that at some point lol.
Re: Grimes, I just can't see him getting enough shots to generate 18 ppg in a SL with JB, JR and RJ. Would LOVE to be wrong, but his PP36 only went up 1 point between year 1 and year 2. going from 13.6 / 36 to 20/36 seems like it would require a significant usage jump.
Awesome! Glad it landed. Re the prediction - I’m counting on an increase in catch/shoot opportunities. Randle in particular takes a while to get comfortable enough w the shooters around him to start looking for a target for a pass. When he does, he’s good for another assist or two per game, easily, and a couple fewer spin-into-triple-team moments. Grimes will benefit from that continuity effect and see more assisted shots per game as a result. He’s also getter more comfortable and better at creating so maybe one fewer hockey-assist. You’re right, most of the statistics increase last season can be attributed to playing time change (so no big change on a standardized per 36 mins) but that’s partly due to that change in time being so large. Anyway, it’s optimistic as hell. But that’s more fun.
So let's say between Brunson, RJ and Randle, they turn about 4-5 of their own shots per game into passes to Grimes, which then brings Grimes from 5.7 3PA up to 10 3PA per game (would have ranked 5th in the NBA last season), and his made 3's goes up from 2.2 to 4. That gets us to 17 points. I'm sure we can scrape together another point per game for him.
Sounds like a lot when you put it that way ... but yeah. May not need all of those, as I’d also look for QG to be more of a featured target at the 3pt line for Mitch and IHart after an offensive board. He wasn’t last year. They re-set more. Then even 1 more shot instead of a round-the-horn pass from Grimes gets him more than enough opportunities. Also want him to drive and get fouled more... he has the handle. Of course this is all best case, but the potential is there
Yup, I think this continuity story is not something we’re telling ourselves is an advantage and hoping it’s true. In particular, in a Thibs system that is built on team play and reacting to what is given we’ll break camp ready. I’m excited about this team with a clean slate and a full year of JHart’s energy. intensity.
These knicks remind me of those lillard/matthews/batum/aldridge/Lopez blazers team from a decade ago. A chance for a big "sum is greater than the parts" season since I believe all these knicks can be a star in their role
They remind me of the Lowry/DeRozan Raptors and Horford Hawks -- it should be a fun season. They also remind me a little of the 80s Bucks-- Moncrief, Cummings, Sikma
I'll go with the Lowry/DeRozan Raptors, with Brunson playing the part of Lowry and Randle as DeRozan. RJ is Rudy Gay, even though I know they traded him before they got really good.
All we need is 2019 Kawhi!!
Love it. I very much believe the continuity is a big plus for us, and appreciate the attempt to ‘quantify’ it - though that’s a very tricky pursuit as the difference is likely to be observed as an improvement in collective play among the ‘continuous’ players so it would likely be more of a ‘within-subjects’ effect than a ‘between subjects’ one. That having been said: I’m looking for the continuity effects to be most observable in the first 20 games of the season compared with last season. We got off slow last year in part bc JB and JR were working out how to play together, RJ was trying to adjust and adapt around both of them, etc. So I’d expect a meaningfully better record after our first 10-20 games than we had last season, assuming comparable schedule difficulty. Beyond that, look for us to be less variable (e.g., less hot and cold play, fewer fallow periods, etc) on offense and slightly better (although possibly slightly more risk-taking) on D.
Free Prediction (worth what you pay for it:) I’m also looking for improvement, especially from QG. If things play out the way I think they should, he could well be among the top5 MIP candidates at the end of the season. A very optimistic projection of his stats based on my wishful thinking ... I mean instinct, eyeballed regressions and insight... is 18p/4.5r/5a at roughly 30 mins/game.
Couldn't agree more with all of the above in the first paragraph. Love the within/between note. Gonna steal that at some point lol.
Re: Grimes, I just can't see him getting enough shots to generate 18 ppg in a SL with JB, JR and RJ. Would LOVE to be wrong, but his PP36 only went up 1 point between year 1 and year 2. going from 13.6 / 36 to 20/36 seems like it would require a significant usage jump.
Awesome! Glad it landed. Re the prediction - I’m counting on an increase in catch/shoot opportunities. Randle in particular takes a while to get comfortable enough w the shooters around him to start looking for a target for a pass. When he does, he’s good for another assist or two per game, easily, and a couple fewer spin-into-triple-team moments. Grimes will benefit from that continuity effect and see more assisted shots per game as a result. He’s also getter more comfortable and better at creating so maybe one fewer hockey-assist. You’re right, most of the statistics increase last season can be attributed to playing time change (so no big change on a standardized per 36 mins) but that’s partly due to that change in time being so large. Anyway, it’s optimistic as hell. But that’s more fun.
So let's say between Brunson, RJ and Randle, they turn about 4-5 of their own shots per game into passes to Grimes, which then brings Grimes from 5.7 3PA up to 10 3PA per game (would have ranked 5th in the NBA last season), and his made 3's goes up from 2.2 to 4. That gets us to 17 points. I'm sure we can scrape together another point per game for him.
Sounds like a lot when you put it that way ... but yeah. May not need all of those, as I’d also look for QG to be more of a featured target at the 3pt line for Mitch and IHart after an offensive board. He wasn’t last year. They re-set more. Then even 1 more shot instead of a round-the-horn pass from Grimes gets him more than enough opportunities. Also want him to drive and get fouled more... he has the handle. Of course this is all best case, but the potential is there
I’m also counting on them playing at a slightly faster pace this year - that continuity effect again. Maybe a couple shots more per game?
Yup, I think this continuity story is not something we’re telling ourselves is an advantage and hoping it’s true. In particular, in a Thibs system that is built on team play and reacting to what is given we’ll break camp ready. I’m excited about this team with a clean slate and a full year of JHart’s energy. intensity.