1. In the first clip of Hart, RJ spends the play standing in the corner with his arms up. His arms stay up and he stays rooted in the corner for the offensive rebound. He doesn’t go for the board and he doesn’t hustle back on D. Yes, he is standing in the right spot for a 3 after the board, but this irritates me.
2. Against the zone. You know who helped beat the zone earlier this week, with his cutting, passing and 3 pt shooting?? I’ll give you a hint. He’s French. I looked up the definition of situational. “relating to or dependent on a set of circumstances or state of affairs.” If the set of circumstances is the other team playing a zone, and the state of affairs is an owner who wants you to win every game, it seems like an infusion of baguette would have helped in the 4th.
Of all the things Thibs does, his inflexibility when it comes to playing guys not in the regular rotation is not only tops on the list, but maybe by a wide margin
WOW! Thank you for pointing that out. Compare RJ not moving to the next clip Jon has where both IQ and Hart run into the paint. RJ needs to either start heading back to prevent a fast break or crash the glass. Inexplicable. Almost as bad as when he stands and watches his shot after the release. Knicks fans are going to turn on this kid soon. I fear for him a little bit. Remember what happened to DSjr. Not easy for a 22 year old....
Love the reference to the Hart highlight package as porn for long-suffering Knicks fans. Right on the money! That has always been the Knick fan’s ultimate dream, hasn’t it? Assemble a team of non-Superstars that are active and fully committed to team defense to topple the flashier Big 3s of the world teams built around ego driven stars and iso play calling? Ah to dream.
I mean, hey...if you get the right superstar, isn’t that enough? Look at the ‘11 Mavs. I love me some rejuvenated Randle, but swap him out (along with all the picks) for the right guy, and maybe there’s a chance. With I knew who that guy was.
More likely a swap of RJ. Randle's more valuable to the Knicks than what he would likely bring in trade because of the rep (fair or unfair) that he could regress, whereas there are those who would consider RJ in a big deal because of his youth.
Re Brunson All-Star: am firmly of the fully unsourced belief that he will not get the nod bc the commissioner would then be tacitly rewarding the Knicks and Brunson for tampering. By this (il)logic, Brunson is playing a role he would not have necessarily had without tampering and engineering the signing... he may have stayed w Mavs as a role player. Had JB been voted in, that would have been different. But Silver may not feel comfortable anointing him.
I was at the game on Saturday night and I was astounded by the activity and aggressiveness of the new guy. The Garden (as did I) fell in love with Hart within about 3 minutes of his court time. And Brunson is just a revelation. Most of the time he is the smallest player on the court, but most of the time he is also the best player on the court.
We miss Robinson terribly as both I-Hart and Sims do not protect the lane and neither has Mitch’s defensive range. Can’t wait to get him back.
Jonathan, you didn’t mention Obi but Saturday night was the first time I saw Obi exhibit true frustration. He is barely part of the offense, it’s affecting his already questionable defense, and this is a situation that will need to be rectified in the off-season. I was told that the offers at the deadline for Obi were “embarrassing,” so how the Knicks deal with him in the offseason, will be critical.
It really feels like the Knicks are one strong three-point shooting wingman from becoming a top echelon team.
With a core of Brunson, Q, Hart, Grimes, Randle (ugh), Robinson and maybe RJ, the base is strong. Add some shooting to this team, and start buying playoff tickets for at least the second round.
I don't look at it as bashing; I look at it as being honest. In truth, I think it would have been fair to give Randle no stars. Other guys - Hartenstein, for sure, and arguably IQ as well - were "better" in their roles, or at the very least, more universally positively impactful. Myself, I give extra credit to guys who have a higher usage, and thus, more responsibility to do the toughest thing, which is make baskets (and even this, others would push back on and say that Randle, at times, looks for his own offense too much to the detriment of the team).
Point is, the last thing I want to do is paint an inaccurate picture, and in giving Randle the honor, I'm implicitly saying how much I think of his overall performance.
Randle continues to play defense when he feels like it and also continues to believe he is the sun, moon and stars as far as the Knicks are concerned.. When he grabbed the ball to take the technical foul shot (Brunson hit on an earlier tech foul shot) I thought I was going to jump from my seat to the court. Of course, he missed the shot.
2 things-
1. In the first clip of Hart, RJ spends the play standing in the corner with his arms up. His arms stay up and he stays rooted in the corner for the offensive rebound. He doesn’t go for the board and he doesn’t hustle back on D. Yes, he is standing in the right spot for a 3 after the board, but this irritates me.
2. Against the zone. You know who helped beat the zone earlier this week, with his cutting, passing and 3 pt shooting?? I’ll give you a hint. He’s French. I looked up the definition of situational. “relating to or dependent on a set of circumstances or state of affairs.” If the set of circumstances is the other team playing a zone, and the state of affairs is an owner who wants you to win every game, it seems like an infusion of baguette would have helped in the 4th.
Of all the things Thibs does, his inflexibility when it comes to playing guys not in the regular rotation is not only tops on the list, but maybe by a wide margin
WOW! Thank you for pointing that out. Compare RJ not moving to the next clip Jon has where both IQ and Hart run into the paint. RJ needs to either start heading back to prevent a fast break or crash the glass. Inexplicable. Almost as bad as when he stands and watches his shot after the release. Knicks fans are going to turn on this kid soon. I fear for him a little bit. Remember what happened to DSjr. Not easy for a 22 year old....
Darko!
Love the reference to the Hart highlight package as porn for long-suffering Knicks fans. Right on the money! That has always been the Knick fan’s ultimate dream, hasn’t it? Assemble a team of non-Superstars that are active and fully committed to team defense to topple the flashier Big 3s of the world teams built around ego driven stars and iso play calling? Ah to dream.
I mean, hey...if you get the right superstar, isn’t that enough? Look at the ‘11 Mavs. I love me some rejuvenated Randle, but swap him out (along with all the picks) for the right guy, and maybe there’s a chance. With I knew who that guy was.
More likely a swap of RJ. Randle's more valuable to the Knicks than what he would likely bring in trade because of the rep (fair or unfair) that he could regress, whereas there are those who would consider RJ in a big deal because of his youth.
Let’s ask Patrick Ewing if getting the right superstar is enough. 🥲
Re Brunson All-Star: am firmly of the fully unsourced belief that he will not get the nod bc the commissioner would then be tacitly rewarding the Knicks and Brunson for tampering. By this (il)logic, Brunson is playing a role he would not have necessarily had without tampering and engineering the signing... he may have stayed w Mavs as a role player. Had JB been voted in, that would have been different. But Silver may not feel comfortable anointing him.
Damn...this isn’t all that nuts, huh? I’m shook...
If nothing else, it’s a disincentive and explains why we are still here. Silver may run out of options...
I like the “reward players in multiple cities so we get as many eyeballs as possible watching the game” theory more than the tampering theory
That’s certainly hard to refute - it’s the basis for popularity voting determining the starters after all.
I was at the game on Saturday night and I was astounded by the activity and aggressiveness of the new guy. The Garden (as did I) fell in love with Hart within about 3 minutes of his court time. And Brunson is just a revelation. Most of the time he is the smallest player on the court, but most of the time he is also the best player on the court.
We miss Robinson terribly as both I-Hart and Sims do not protect the lane and neither has Mitch’s defensive range. Can’t wait to get him back.
Jonathan, you didn’t mention Obi but Saturday night was the first time I saw Obi exhibit true frustration. He is barely part of the offense, it’s affecting his already questionable defense, and this is a situation that will need to be rectified in the off-season. I was told that the offers at the deadline for Obi were “embarrassing,” so how the Knicks deal with him in the offseason, will be critical.
It really feels like the Knicks are one strong three-point shooting wingman from becoming a top echelon team.
With a core of Brunson, Q, Hart, Grimes, Randle (ugh), Robinson and maybe RJ, the base is strong. Add some shooting to this team, and start buying playoff tickets for at least the second round.
Hart shows that a tough, competitive player makes up for a lot of shortcomings. He's the un-Frank and the un-Kevin. Maybe the un-Cam too.
ah the truth it burns frankisland forever
(sheds single tear)
I'm hoping for ridiculous rebounding differentials (and wins of course) when Mitch is back added to the mix.
Giving Randle 2 stars and then bashing him. Classic. The guy has been great this season and in a sustainable way.
I don't look at it as bashing; I look at it as being honest. In truth, I think it would have been fair to give Randle no stars. Other guys - Hartenstein, for sure, and arguably IQ as well - were "better" in their roles, or at the very least, more universally positively impactful. Myself, I give extra credit to guys who have a higher usage, and thus, more responsibility to do the toughest thing, which is make baskets (and even this, others would push back on and say that Randle, at times, looks for his own offense too much to the detriment of the team).
Point is, the last thing I want to do is paint an inaccurate picture, and in giving Randle the honor, I'm implicitly saying how much I think of his overall performance.
Hope this helps clarify.
Randle continues to play defense when he feels like it and also continues to believe he is the sun, moon and stars as far as the Knicks are concerned.. When he grabbed the ball to take the technical foul shot (Brunson hit on an earlier tech foul shot) I thought I was going to jump from my seat to the court. Of course, he missed the shot.