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00:00Welcome back to another edition of New York Got Game.
00:18A lot to get into this week.
00:20Knicks fans are a little bit concerned because Jalen Brunson out with an injury.
00:25OG Ananobi is now out with an injury.
00:28How are the Knicks going to handle this coming off of a very, very impressive homestand.
00:33Now they go on the road.
00:35We've got plenty to talk about.
00:36We've got a great guest this week.
00:38So let's get right into it.
00:40The Knicks, they just wrapped up a 6-1 homestand, dropping 140 on the Miami Heat,
00:45one of their most impressive offensive performances of the season.
00:48They're 8-4 right now.
00:50They look dangerous, but now comes a real test, a five-game road trip
00:53and a rematch with the Heat to start it off.
00:55So it's a perfect time for me to bring in a man who has covered the league at the highest level for decades.
01:01I'm not calling him old.
01:03I will never do that.
01:03He's my good friend, senior NBA writer for The Ringer, co-host of The Real Ones, my guy, Howard Beck, joins me now.
01:09Howard, how are you doing, sir?
01:11Doing great, Dex.
01:13It doesn't matter how you describe it.
01:15I feel old regardless.
01:16That's, you know, decades is accurate.
01:18It's accurate, but it hurts.
01:20It is.
01:20And then I called you, sir.
01:21I was like, I'm not calling him old.
01:22And I was like, yes, sir.
01:23There you go.
01:24That's good.
01:25We're good, man.
01:26We've known each other a long time.
01:27Yes, we've known each other a long time.
01:28You've been doing this great work for a long time.
01:30Always good to see you.
01:32Glad to have you here to talk a little bit about the Knicks.
01:34But, Howard, let me talk to you about this, because when you watch this Knicks team under Mike Brown,
01:39what has stood out to you the most about the offensive identity they've established through these first 12 games of the season?
01:45I know it's a very small sample size, but what has stood out to you about that?
01:48Yeah, you know, statistically, there's not a dramatic difference, although there is in one category, which I'll get to.
01:56But I think it's visually, aesthetically, that is the biggest difference from Tom Thibodeau to Mike Brown.
02:02And it's what you should have expected.
02:04It's what fans should have expected.
02:06And I think it's certainly what the Knicks as a franchise expected when they hired Mike Brown,
02:09which was they certainly wanted a coach who was going to diversify the offense a little bit.
02:14Now, obviously, under Thibs, they were a top five offense last season.
02:18They were very effective.
02:19They made the conference finals.
02:21But that doesn't mean that you can't be even more effective and that you can lessen the burden on Jalen Brunson a bit.
02:27And I think that's what Mike Brown has sought to do.
02:29So there's more ball movement.
02:31There is a little bit more offensive initiation from guys like Mikhail Bridges.
02:36There's a little bit more usage of the bench, which is obviously a knock on Thibs.
02:40And again, in his defense, they've also upgraded the bench a little bit.
02:43So I think they look a little different.
02:48They're playing a little different.
02:49I like the way the ball moves now.
02:51I like the offense.
02:52I like it being a little bit less Jalen-centric and less of the ball kind of sticking.
02:58The movement, I think, is good in the modern era.
03:02I mentioned the one statistical area where they are dramatically different, and that is three-point shooting.
03:07They're taking 10 more threes per game this season so far than they did last season.
03:12And that, again, I think is a reflection of a couple things.
03:15One, they have a lot of good three-point shooters that they just weren't necessarily utilizing to their full extent.
03:21The Knicks last year, I think, were 27th in three-point attempts in the NBA.
03:25They're now third.
03:26And, you know, you have to do that in today's NBA, not just to keep up with, you know, your competition, but to maximize all of your role players.
03:35If you've got good three-point shooters, use them.
03:38And, you know, their percentage of three-pointers made is not that much different than it was last season.
03:43So this is definitely sustainable.
03:46They're just taking a lot more of them, which I think makes them that much more potent.
03:50And when you've got two offensive, elite offensive players in Jalen Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns, it's going to open up a lot for the role guys and give them a lot of open shots.
03:59So I think they are leveraging their three-point shooting really well.
04:02And, again, I think the better ball movement is going to pay dividends.
04:06I've liked it, too, particularly the better ball movement.
04:08That's looked really good for this team.
04:10And I think you're right.
04:10Diversity matters in this modern NBA, Howard.
04:13And I think when we look at all that, my next question is how much of this recent offensive surge, because that's so much of what the fan base has been talking about, right, how much different the offense looked.
04:23But how much of this recent offensive surge that we saw through their last homestand is sustainable?
04:28And how much for you feels like early season shooting variants that potentially could regress as they go on the road?
04:35So how much should we buy into what we've seen from them offensively early on?
04:39Yeah.
04:39So, look, the good news is the Knicks last year shot about 37 percent from three as a team.
04:48They're now shooting 38 percent.
04:50So this is not so – they're not having some, like, wild statistical aberrance of a surge here.
04:58They are actually shooting about the same percentage they did last season.
05:01They're just taking a lot more threes.
05:02So that's definitely sustainable because, you know, there's not some outlier going on here.
05:09And they've got a lot of capable three-point shooters.
05:11And they have, not for nothing, two elite offensive hubs in Brunson and Towns to get this thing going.
05:17So you know those two guys are always going to be able to bring it every single night.
05:22And then the rest of it becomes, if we're talking about variants, you know, shooting surges and are guys, you know, capable of hitting all these open threes consistently?
05:33I think they've got that.
05:34Like, I don't see any outliers here that would suggest they're going to come crashing to earth.
05:39And, again, like, they're pretty much in the range they were last year in offense.
05:44They were fifth overall last year in offensive rating.
05:47They're third now.
05:48So a couple of ticks higher.
05:50And I don't see anything that suggests that this is unsustainable.
05:55All right.
05:56That's good news for Knicks fans.
05:57Howard thinks this is sustainable.
05:59And, look, the offense does look good.
06:01Like you said, shooting percentage pretty good from downtown still.
06:03We'll see if it can get even better.
06:04I'm sure people would love to see them be the number one offense in the league.
06:07I'm not sure how much that matters, but it'll be interesting to see.
06:11Now, their head of the snake, Jalen Brunson, has got an ankle injury.
06:17That casts kind of a shadow over this team's momentum.
06:20How big of a concern is Jalen Brunson's ankle injury for the Knicks in both the short term and long term?
06:28Any injury to Jalen Brunson is a concern, obviously.
06:30You know, I think they've got a deeper team than they had last season.
06:35I think that Mike Brown is doing a nice job of, you know, empowering McHale Bridges to be more of a playmaker.
06:42And that has certainly shown up again.
06:44You can see it, and you can see it in the stats as well.
06:47I think that, you know, bringing in, you know, Jordan Clarkson and the bigger role for Landry Schammett, Deuce McBride.
06:52Like, you've got a lot of different directions you can go and a lot of guard depth.
06:55But, I mean, there's no replacing Jalen Brunson, so what are we talking about?
06:58I think they can sustain it short term.
07:02I think that when Brunson is healthy, they can, you know, play a game that's very effective without leaning on him quite as much.
07:10But any time Jalen Brunson's hurt, it's a concern.
07:13I mean, this is the same ankle that cost him, I think, 15 games last season.
07:18He turned it a couple more times in the playoffs but kept playing because that's who Jalen Brunson is.
07:23But, you know, wear and tear is cumulative.
07:27And you don't want to have to, you know, keep nursing him through the same ankle injuries or any injuries and, you know, knowing how much you're going to need him in April and May and if they're fortunate, June.
07:38So, yeah, it's a concern.
07:40I think it is lessened by the fact that you have a lot of capable guys who can pick up the slack short term.
07:46But, you know, Jalen Brunson, like, there are times I think they just need to, you know, wrap him in bubble wrap until the spring.
07:54But hard to get through a season that way.
07:56Yeah, and I'm very intrigued to see how they manage this with him going forward, too.
08:00What you said, you want him for late in the season.
08:02You want him in the playoffs.
08:03So, I don't think you want to rush him back.
08:06You want him 100% healthy.
08:07And I think the Knicks have enough depth to be able to, you know, get through, I don't know, maybe a month without him.
08:14Maybe they can get that done.
08:16But here's the thing, Howard.
08:18Last season, you saw, you heard the minutes police.
08:23They were all over Tom Thibodeau.
08:25We know this.
08:26So, what did you make of Mike Brown's decision making to have Jalen Brunson late in the game against the Magic when he got hurt?
08:33And, you know, are some fans making too much of the timing of the injury and blaming Mike Brown?
08:38Because we've seen that, too.
08:40And is he, should he get more heat?
08:42Should he get the same heat that Tom Thibodeau got?
08:44What do you make of everything that's gone on with Mike Brown's decision around Jalen Brunson?
08:49Look, I think it is natural for fans and for the players themselves sometimes, for anybody.
08:55If a game's out of reach and your starters are still in, games out of reach either way, you've either got a huge lead or a huge deficit, and your starters are still in, I think it's always fair to wonder if you're, you know, testing fate there, if you're tempting fate.
09:11And I think that as much criticism as Thib's got, I think that was an area that was fair.
09:16And I think it's fair for Mike Brown to get the same criticism because Jalen Brunson got hurt in a game where they were down by 16 with less than two minutes to go.
09:24So I don't think you're coming back in that situation.
09:26Now, in today's NBA, 16 points can vanish pretty quickly.
09:31But with less than 10 minutes, you know, you have to make every three and you've got to get every stop.
09:35It's not inconceivable.
09:37It's not out of the question.
09:38But you are pushing it.
09:40You are tempting fate.
09:41And I get it.
09:42You know, Mike Brown's answer was the same answer that Tom Thibodeau had given in the past that any coach in that situation would give.
09:48Like, I'm trying to win the game.
09:50I get it.
09:51But especially in today's NBA, you've got, and especially if you're a presumed contender, which the Knicks are, you have to look at the big picture.
09:59You have to take the long view.
10:00And there are times where, you know, we used to see this with Pop sometimes, Popovich, where if the Spurs are just out of a game, he'd just yank them all in the third quarter and say, screw it.
10:09We're saving them for tomorrow night because we have a back-to-back or we've played a lot of games recently or whatever.
10:14And I think, you know, people don't necessarily like that.
10:18I understand that.
10:19Fans certainly don't like seeing stars pulled.
10:22But in a case like this, late in the game that you are probably not coming back and then you end up with the injury, yeah, you're going to get some backlash.
10:32And, you know, I understand a coach wanting to win every single game.
10:36Coaches are judged on their win-loss record.
10:39But, like I say, I thought it was fair for Tibbs to take the heat when he did it.
10:44I think it's fair for Mike Brown, too, as well.
10:46Yeah, no, I think that's absolutely fair.
10:48I thought he left him in a couple of minutes too long.
10:51I was at the game and I was shocked Brunson was still on the floor.
10:54And, you know, fans are going to keep the same energy that they had with Tibbs.
10:57I can't blame them for that.
10:58Now, Knicks had another big injury in their last game in the homestand.
11:01O.G. Ananobi left the game with a hamstring injury.
11:05It's a hamstring strain.
11:06The reports came out that he will be re-evaluated.
11:09In two weeks now, that's just being re-evaluated, Howard.
11:12But he did leave another game with another hamstring issue.
11:15That's going to raise some red flags.
11:16How worried should Knicks fans be about his durability
11:18and then what it means for the defensive floor?
11:21Because he's been absolutely their best defensive player
11:24through the first 12 games of the season.
11:25He's been their best defensive player for the last couple of years
11:29since they got him, I think, right?
11:31I mean, this is tough.
11:35Look, I don't want to get hyperbolic here.
11:38I'm not trying to be hot takey.
11:39But in some ways, O.G. Ananobi is as much or even more irreplaceable
11:43than Jalen Brunson.
11:44You can find other ways to score on this team.
11:46Not long term.
11:47Obviously, you need Jalen Brunson if you want to be a contender.
11:50You can find other guys who can handle the ball,
11:51who can make plays, and who can score.
11:54It's hard to find anybody else who can do what O.G. Ananobi does
11:57and who can basically guard five positions
11:59and is one of their top rebounders
12:01and is just so strong and so athletic
12:04and can do so many things.
12:06Obviously, great scorer in the open court, good shooter.
12:10He's become an offensive force for them as well.
12:13I just don't see where you replace him.
12:16He's not replaceable.
12:17And they don't have that many defensive wings
12:22to pick up the slack.
12:25I was looking up and down the roster
12:27thinking about just kind of the domino effect
12:29and who do you shuffle in
12:30and what's the domino effect of, you know,
12:32O.G.'s not here.
12:33You shift bridges to some of his assignments.
12:37He's probably one of your better wing defenders.
12:40It's probably more Landry Schammett
12:42and more Deuce McBride and some others.
12:44You've got a lot of guards, but you really don't have a lot of guys
12:48at the forward spots who can pick it up.
12:51And on top of that, Mitchell Robinson is still limited.
12:54He's under this load management program after his offseason surgery.
12:58So not a lot of places to go for defense.
13:02Not a lot of places to backfill the front court.
13:05I think they're going to miss O.G. quite a bit.
13:08I get the sense of what you're saying there, Howard,
13:10is that in a way, almost the O.G. injury concerns you more
13:14than the Brunson injury because that's how I feel about it.
13:17I think it's more almost, I know it's weird to say
13:18because Brunson's the best player,
13:20but because of what you said in O.G.'s defense
13:23being virtually irreplaceable,
13:26I do think his injury is more concerning.
13:28And also that now we're talking about,
13:31and this is no shade to these players,
13:32we're talking about Pocom Dottier, right?
13:34Whereas possibly maybe getting some minutes there if needed.
13:37I'm not saying you would.
13:39I think maybe you're shifting Josh Hart to the starting lineup.
13:41You talked about Deuce McBride, Lantry Shamit,
13:43getting some more minutes.
13:44I've even heard some fans tweet at me and say,
13:46Mohamed Diora.
13:47And I'm like, that's asking a lot.
13:50I see your face, Howard.
13:51That's asking a lot.
13:52I think I'm going to Gershon Yabusele
13:54before some of those guys.
13:56But yeah, I mean, and he's one.
13:57Look, Yabusele was one of the big offseason pickups, right?
14:00And he's been kind of a footnote
14:02in Mike Brown's rotation so far.
14:04So this is, I think,
14:05certainly going to be his opportunity
14:07to show that he is valuable enough
14:10that he should stick.
14:12They're going to need him.
14:13They just don't have a lot of big bodies
14:14and certainly not tested big bodies.
14:17The guys who just mentioned, all the youngsters,
14:19fans always love the young guys.
14:23There's a reason those guys aren't playing much.
14:25Yeah, and they still have to grow.
14:27So I guess that brings me to this.
14:28If Brunson and Ananobi are limited,
14:32it looks like they both will be out
14:33for an extended period of time.
14:35That's what it looks like right now.
14:36Who's the player that you believe must shoulder
14:38the biggest load offensively
14:40for the Knicks during this period?
14:43You know, it's interesting
14:44because I think they almost have to, like,
14:46lean even more into their identity
14:49as an elite offensive team.
14:51I don't think they can make up
14:53for this defensively, right?
14:54You cannot replace OG,
14:55as we've just been discussing.
14:56It's almost like you need to score even more
14:59or more efficiently.
15:00So lean that much more
15:01to your offensive identity.
15:03That may mean, excuse me,
15:05a lot more of, you know,
15:08same suspects, Bridges,
15:10Shamit, McBride.
15:13You're just going to need
15:15to be that much more potent
15:16because you cannot replace
15:18what you've lost with OG Ananobi defensively.
15:22Carl Anthony Towns, you know,
15:24we always want more defense from Cat.
15:28And again, if Brunson is out,
15:31you know, if your question is
15:32where do they turn to for more offense,
15:34you know, Cat is your other elite offensive player.
15:37He does not create on his own very much.
15:40You know, he's a big,
15:41you got to get the ball to him,
15:42but I would certainly look to feed him quite a bit.
15:45And he can, you know, make plays himself as well.
15:48You know, he's a very capable passer and playmaker.
15:52You can play through him a bit,
15:54but I think, you know,
15:54Towns and Bridges are the guys
15:56who are going to have to pick up
15:57a lot of the slack offensively without Brunson.
15:59And then defensively, you know,
16:02they're just going to have to be on a string.
16:04Yeah. And so you just mentioned Towns
16:05and we look at the last game
16:07the Knicks played on Friday night against Miami.
16:09I thought that was Cat's
16:10most dominant performance of this season.
16:13Maybe one of his most dominant
16:14regular season performances
16:15that we've seen from him as a Knick.
16:17How important is it for him
16:19that he has more of those, I'll say,
16:22best player on the floor nights
16:24that we've seen from him?
16:25He looked like that,
16:26especially in the first half against Miami.
16:28How important is it with Brunson out
16:29that he brings that kind of energy?
16:32I love it when Towns is playing with that swagger
16:34where he's just, you know,
16:35you know, really gesturing
16:37and, you know, kind of whooping it up out there
16:39and acting like the dominant offensive player
16:43that he is.
16:44You know, look, he's never going to be,
16:46you know, Akeem Olajuwon in the paint
16:48in terms of his shot blocking,
16:51rim protection, any of that.
16:52I think, you know, it's okay for,
16:56you know, stars to be stronger at one end.
17:00You can win a lot of games that way.
17:01But I think in terms of the near term,
17:05but also for next spring,
17:07yeah, the Knicks are in the same position
17:10now that the Timberwolves were for years,
17:11which is, man, Towns is so tantalizing
17:14when he has a game like that
17:15where you can see, like,
17:16if he could just do that every single night
17:17and he does it more often than not.
17:19But even in the playoffs,
17:20sometimes it's a little bit of like
17:21one dominant game,
17:22one kind of quiet game.
17:24You need it from him every single night.
17:26And in a situation now
17:27where Brunson may be out for a little bit
17:29and Ananobi is out
17:30and Mitchell Robinson is on a limit,
17:32minutes restriction.
17:34Yeah, of course,
17:35they need that version of Carl Anthony Towns,
17:38that dominant version,
17:39that swaggering version every single night.
17:42And, you know, that's his burden to bear.
17:44That's been his burden to bear
17:44ever since he came into the league.
17:46And I think, you know,
17:46he's better about that now than he was.
17:48And I think for anybody who was worried
17:50about how he would do under,
17:52you know, the bright garden lights
17:53and playing in New York
17:54and coming home and all that,
17:55I think he's proven,
17:57he's handled it pretty damn well.
17:59But he still has some of those same patterns
18:00that he had in Minnesota.
18:01Yeah, and that's been really frustrating
18:03for the Knicks fan base.
18:05We'll see how he holds up offensively.
18:07And we talked a lot about offense here.
18:08I do want to talk a little defense here, Howard,
18:10because according to Cleaning the Glass,
18:12the Knicks, they are 17th in the NBA
18:14in defensive rating.
18:15How do you assess the Knicks defensive issues so far?
18:19And we have noted in this conversation
18:21that they're going to be a little bit
18:23more defensively challenged
18:24without O.G. Ananobi and Mitchell Robinson
18:26being limited.
18:27So how do you assess the way
18:29this Knicks defense has looked thus far?
18:31Yeah, you know,
18:33they're only slightly behind
18:35where they were in defensive rating last season.
18:37So they haven't really slipped much.
18:39They were about middle of the pack
18:40in the, you know, high teens last year.
18:42They're in like the mid-teens now.
18:45So it's not that great of a difference.
18:48They're facing the same issues,
18:50concerns that they had under Tibbs.
18:52And Tibbs was, you know,
18:53regarded obviously as a defensive-minded coach
18:56and they were still only middle of the pack.
18:58Why?
18:59Well, when you build a team
19:00around two superstars
19:02who are both incredible offensive players,
19:05but are both net negative defenders
19:07in Brunson and Towns,
19:08this is what happens.
19:09I've sometimes analogized it too,
19:11and it's not a perfect analogy stylistically,
19:14but when the Phoenix Suns
19:15had that seven seconds or less era
19:17under Mike D'Antoni,
19:19Steve Nash and Murray Stoudemire
19:20were the two best players
19:21in the engine of their offense.
19:22And they were both incredible players,
19:23but they were both minus defenders.
19:27And, you know, you have Sean Marion
19:29and Raja Bell and other guys out there
19:31to try to shore up the defense,
19:32but you could only get so far
19:34with a team that needed
19:36two elite offensive players
19:38who were minus defenders
19:39out there all the time.
19:41This is the problem for the Knicks.
19:43Jalen Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns
19:45are who they are at this stage.
19:46And so you try to shore it up everywhere else.
19:49And by the way,
19:49the Knicks have done a really good job
19:51of this architecturally, right?
19:52They traded for Towns,
19:54or I mean, traded for Ananobi.
19:56They traded for Bridges.
19:57They tried to find the kind of players
19:59around Towns and Brunson
20:02to play the defense that those guys can't.
20:06And when everybody's out there and healthy,
20:08it works.
20:09And that includes, of course, again,
20:10Mitchell Robinson,
20:11but Mitchell Robinson gets hurt a lot.
20:14And Mitchell Robinson is back
20:15to his old foul trouble ways recently too,
20:18which I think is a bit of a concern
20:19because he needs to stay on the floor.
20:21He's getting in foul trouble in like 17 minutes.
20:24So I'm afraid this is just the challenge
20:28that they're always going to face
20:29as long as the team is built around Brunson and Towns.
20:33You have to find enough capable defenders to fill in.
20:36And there aren't a ton of elite guys out there to go get.
20:40Yeah, no, there isn't.
20:41And the Knicks also don't have a lot of those assets
20:43left over to go get those guys.
20:45So very interesting to see how that works,
20:46especially now with the injuries to Brunson and OG.
20:50Going back to Mike Brown here, Howard,
20:53when you look at the way that he's deployed this roster,
20:56do you think he's found,
20:57and obviously I'm talking about when they were all healthy,
20:59do you think he's found his most optimal rotation yet?
21:02Or do you still think this is very much a work in progress
21:05as he tries to find what the best rotation is,
21:08the amount of guys he wants to play
21:09as he goes through the season?
21:11Yeah, I mean, he's playing a lot of guys
21:12and he's playing a lot of guys,
21:14you know, like double-digit minutes,
21:15and it's been a pretty deep rotation so far.
21:17Most coaches prefer to have their eight or nine guys
21:21that they really, truly trust
21:22and that they want to, you know,
21:24rely on night in, night out.
21:26Sometimes early in the season,
21:27we saw this with the Warriors and the Grizzlies last season,
21:30seeing it a little bit with the Knicks now,
21:31where you play 10, 11, 12 guys early in the season.
21:35And especially in a case like this
21:36where Mike Brown is new to the Knicks,
21:38they've got a bunch of new players
21:40that they picked up in the offseason.
21:41They've got some young guys,
21:43some of whom you already mentioned,
21:44and Tyler Kolick, you can throw in there too,
21:46who you're just trying to see what they've got.
21:50I don't mind that.
21:51It's, you know, we're still in the first,
21:53you know, more or less month of the season here.
21:55We're coming up on the four-week mark soon.
21:58And 20 games is usually the mark
22:00where teams feel like they've got a sense of who they are.
22:04I think Mike Brown will eventually reduce the rotation a bit
22:07and find his guys.
22:09He's tinkering right now.
22:10And I think that's normal.
22:12And I think, again,
22:13Mitchell Robinson's minute restriction
22:15is creating part of that too,
22:17because you're just trying to find other guys
22:19to, you know, soak up minutes in the front court.
22:23And, you know, Jordan Clarkson got off
22:26to kind of a, you know, wonky start.
22:28I think he's been a little better lately.
22:30Yabasele, we mentioned earlier,
22:31they still need to figure out
22:33what the best rule for him is.
22:35So, you know, give it another few weeks, I'd say.
22:38But I would expect that by mid-December at the latest,
22:42we'll see a little bit more of a consistent
22:43and tighter rotation.
22:45I'll tell you what,
22:46when you get to mid-December
22:46and the rotation's a little tighter,
22:48the minutes police are going to come back out.
22:49They're going to come for Mike Brown.
22:50You know this is...
22:51Tighter.
22:52Not necessarily guys playing 38 minutes,
22:5440 minutes a night.
22:55Just a little, just fewer bodies overall.
22:58Just a little.
22:59There you go.
23:00So when you talk about Mike Brown, right,
23:02you look at everything in his early coaching tenor.
23:04Again, 12 games.
23:05But you look at the offense,
23:06look at the rotations,
23:07the tempo,
23:08they're trying to play with more pace,
23:10the decision-making.
23:11What's your biggest like with Mike Brown thus far?
23:14And maybe what's your biggest concern with him
23:16as head coach right now?
23:18Yeah, it's funny.
23:19Again, like the pace is up a little bit over last year,
23:22but they're still in like the bottom third of the league.
23:24I thought it might be a little bit faster under Mike Brown.
23:28But I think what we're seeing,
23:29like sometimes pace as a stat doesn't reflect this,
23:32but there is, as we talked about earlier,
23:34a little bit more ball movement.
23:35So the pace of the offense in a possession basis may not be higher,
23:39but the pace in terms of, you know,
23:41making quick decisions with the ball is higher.
23:46So again, I like that.
23:47I like the more dynamic offense,
23:51more fluid offense,
23:52more ball movement.
23:53That has been a plus.
23:54If there's a concern, you know,
23:56it's defense, you know,
23:57and that's not a Mike Brown issue.
23:58That's a structural issue,
23:59I think,
23:59with the Knicks.
24:01And it existed under Tibbs.
24:02It exists under Mike Brown.
24:03And it's something that they're going to,
24:05I imagine,
24:06spend, you know,
24:07much of the season trying to figure out.
24:08And I don't know if there's another move.
24:10We talked about the fact that there's not,
24:12you know,
24:12the Knicks don't have a ton of assets to trade,
24:15but if they can make a,
24:17you know,
24:17a move or two around the margins between now and the trade deadline,
24:20try to get,
24:20you know,
24:20one more wing defender or one more backup big behind Mitchell Robinson.
24:26You know,
24:27those guys are not easy to find if you're trying to find another rim protector.
24:30But I think that to the extent that defense would be the main concern,
24:35there's not a lot you can do other than try to just,
24:40you know,
24:40you know,
24:41crank it up a little bit internally,
24:42but you got to have the guys to do it.
24:46I know we like to buy into this mythology in this league,
24:49that defense is about heart and hustle.
24:51And there's some truth to that,
24:53or that it's about coaching.
24:54And again,
24:54there's some truth to that,
24:55but you know what it's really about?
24:56It's about having great defenders that you either have guys who are great
24:59defenders or you don't.
25:01And even Tibbs as great as he was as a defensive coach had years in
25:06Minnesota where he had bottom third defensive teams.
25:09And he's had years in New York where his teams weren't that great.
25:12It's not about coaching or scheme.
25:14It's about,
25:15do you have the guys and the Knicks have a,
25:19a couple of guys who are great defenders and then a lot of guys who are
25:21average to below and you just got to deal with it.
25:24Yeah.
25:25You got to have the personnel with the own personnel.
25:26You cannot defend at a high level.
25:28And look,
25:29the Knicks have been dominant at home Howard to start the season,
25:32but they are Owen three on the road thus far.
25:35What do you think is the most important thing to watch with the Knicks
25:38during this five game road trip that will tell us,
25:41and maybe that'll tell you a lot about this team,
25:43whether this Knicks team is a true NBA title contender,
25:45or maybe still a tier below,
25:47what are you watching for on this road trip?
25:50I'm not going to put too much on a five game road trip in November in terms
25:53of what it means for April or may.
25:56Yeah,
25:57obviously you want to be a great road team.
25:58If you're expecting to make a deep playoff run,
26:00you've got to be able to win on the road,
26:01but this is a very,
26:03very veteran Knicks team.
26:04I think we've already seen they're great at winning on the road,
26:07regular season and playoffs both.
26:08So I'm not overly concerned about an Owen three start to the road record.
26:15It's not going to be the most strenuous road trip.
26:18It's a five game trip,
26:20but game four of the five is in Brooklyn.
26:22So it's actually,
26:24they're at home and we've heard the way the crowds are at Barclays center.
26:27When the Knicks play there,
26:28it's a home crowd and the Knicks don't have to worry about sleeping in a hotel
26:32that night.
26:33So,
26:33and then not the toughest competition on this trip either,
26:37right?
26:38Like Miami has been really competitive,
26:39but they're a game over 500.
26:41The Mavericks are a mess.
26:42The magic have,
26:43have gotten their stuff together recently,
26:45but again,
26:45they're only a game over 500.
26:47They've been up and down.
26:48The Nets obviously are tanking.
26:50And then they finish up with a game at Charlotte and you know,
26:54the Hornets are their usual dysfunctional selves.
26:57So I would think if anybody's got concerns about them on the road,
27:02the Knicks should fatten up on this trip.
27:05Yeah,
27:05they should.
27:06And you hope they do,
27:07especially with likely Brunson and OG being out.
27:10Don't know for how long for Brunson,
27:11but OG's not going to play for this entire road trip.
27:14We'll travel with the team.
27:15So you'd hope they can,
27:16you know,
27:17add to that road record,
27:18get a little bit better,
27:19fatten up,
27:19as you said,
27:20here on the road.
27:21We'll see how they do.
27:22That everybody,
27:23it's Howard Beck.
27:24Please check him out.
27:26Great work.
27:26He does senior NBA writer for the ringer.
27:28Also co-host of the real ones podcast,
27:31Howard.
27:32Appreciate the time.
27:33Hopefully I will see you at the garden or Barclays center sometime soon.
27:38Be well,
27:39my friend.
27:39I appreciate you coming on New York guy game with me.
27:42Always a pleasure.
27:43Dex.
27:43Good to see you,
27:44man.
27:44We'll see you soon.
27:45Yes,
27:45sir.
27:46Okay.
27:46Before we wrap up this week's episode,
27:48I want to take a moment to talk about something that we all are watching in real time.
27:52It's something special,
27:53something historic.
27:54And that's the level of rebounding dominance that we're seeing from Mitchell Robinson this season,
27:59because what Mitch is doing right now,
28:01it's not normal.
28:03It's not common.
28:04And quite frankly,
28:05we may never have seen a mixed player do it at this level.
28:09So let's start with the raw numbers because they are wild.
28:13In only 16.2 minutes per game,
28:15Mitchell Robinson is averaging 8.7 boards and 5.8 of them are offensive.
28:21Again,
28:21that's just in 16 minutes a night per 36 minutes.
28:25That's 13 offensive rebounds per game,
28:2813.
28:28And according to cleaning the glass,
28:30Mitch's field goal,
28:31offensive rebounding percentage is 31.7.
28:35What does that mean?
28:36That means when Mitch is on the floor and a shot goes up,
28:39it's basically a one in three chance that he's getting the offensive board.
28:44The Knicks as a team,
28:45they rank fifth in the NBA in offensive rebounding percentage.
28:48And Mitchell Robinson is the entire engine behind him.
28:52Look at the Miami game.
28:54He didn't score a single point,
28:56but he may have been the most impactful non-scoring player on the floor.
29:00Foul trouble limited him to 14 minutes.
29:02But in those 14 minutes,
29:04he pulled down 10 rebounds,
29:06eight of them.
29:06Yes,
29:07eight were offensive.
29:08His head coach,
29:09Mike Brown,
29:10he was excited about it.
29:11Freaking Mitch Robinson.
29:13Oh my God.
29:15Eight faking offensive rebounds.
29:17Way to go,
29:18Mitch.
29:18This is who Mitchell Robinson is when he's healthy.
29:21A one-man possession machine.
29:22A force who bends a defense before the shot even goes up.
29:26Just because everyone knows he's lurking behind the play.
29:30And here's the bigger case.
29:31The one people aren't saying out loud just yet.
29:35We may never have seen a Knicks player rebound like this.
29:38And if we're talking offensive rebound,
29:40just quickly that skill,
29:42Mitch Robinson,
29:43this might be the best offensive rebounder the NBA has ever seen in the modern era.
29:48His timing,
29:49his length,
29:50his anticipation,
29:51the way he slithers around box outs,
29:53his pure art.
29:54It's specialized in elite skill that he's doing.
29:57And he's performing it at a level the league has rarely experienced.
30:00This is why,
30:01even when he's not scoring,
30:03even when he's not playing starters minutes,
30:05Mitch Robinson is one of the most impactful players on this.
30:08Knicks roster.
30:09Starting a possession is one thing.
30:11Extending it,
30:12breaking an opponent's spirit with relentless second and third chances.
30:16That's Mitch Robinson right there.
30:18So,
30:18as this season moves on,
30:20keep an eye on number 23.
30:21Because what he's doing on the glass,
30:23even in a limited run,
30:25isn't just good.
30:26It's historic.
30:28And if he keeps this up,
30:29we're going to be talking about Mitch Robinson as one of the most unique,
30:32dominant specialists the NBA has ever seen.
30:36That's going to do it for this episode of New York God Games.
30:38Special thanks to my guest,
30:39the great Howard Beck of The Ringer.
30:42We've got more New York God Games coming your way this week,
30:45including a Knicks watch party with my guy,
30:46Jeff Eisenband.
30:47He's going to be joining myself and Brian Fonseca in the studio to watch the
30:51game against the Mavericks on Wednesday night.
30:54And we always,
30:55much love to the people who work on this great show.
30:58Producer Erica Block,
30:59technical director,
31:00Heather Bonsignore,
31:01editor Eduardo Guerrero and production assistants Jessica Thyssen and Tommy Cohen.
31:06I'm Dexter Henry.
31:07We'll see you soon on another edition of New York God Games.
31:10And thanks for watching New York God Games.
31:15Boom shakalaka.
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