Howard Beck joins @DHenryTV to give his read on the Knicks’ defensive problems so far

Watch Howard Beck joins @DHenryTV to give his read on the Knicks’ defensive problems so far - New York Post on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00According to Cleaning the Glass, the Knicks are 17th in the NBA in defensive rating.

00:04How do you assess the Knicks' defensive issues so far?

00:08They're only slightly behind where they were in defensive rating last season.

00:12So they haven't really slipped much.

00:13They were about middle of the pack in the high teens last year.

00:16They're in like the mid-teens now.

00:17They're facing the same issues, concerns that they had under Tibbs.

00:22And Tibbs was regarded, obviously, as a defensive-minded coach,

00:25and they were still in the middle of the pack.

00:26Why?

00:27Well, when you build a team around two superstars who are both incredible offensive players

00:33but are both net-negative defenders in Brunson and Towns, this is what happens.

00:38Jalen Brunson and Carl Anthony Towns are who they are at this stage.

00:41And so you try to shore it up everywhere else.

00:43And by the way, the Knicks have done a really good job of this architecturally, right?

00:47They traded for Ananobi.

00:48They traded for Bridges.

00:50They tried to find the kind of players around Towns and Brunson

00:54to play the defense that those guys can't.

00:56When everybody's out there and healthy, it works.

00:58And that includes, of course, again, Mitchell Robinson.

01:01But Mitchell Robinson gets hurt a lot.

01:03I'm afraid this is just the challenge that they're always going to face

01:06as long as the team is built around Brunson and Towns.

01:09You have to find enough capable defenders to fill in.

01:12And there aren't a ton of elite guys out there to go get.

01:16That's how great.

01:17And this is how great we can do it.

01:18All right.