00:00All right, Knicks fans, we're about a month away until the Mike Brown era officially begins.
00:05One month away from game one of the first round of the NBA playoffs.
00:08So Alex Jotaros and KnicksFanTV woke back up with us this morning to start looking ahead to the playoffs.
00:15Because, Alex, let's be real about it.
00:17There's no need to talk about the win over the bum Pacers last night.
00:20Let's get straight into this thing.
00:23Our Knicks beat writer for The Post, Steph Bondi, does a great job on his coverage.
00:27He's got an article on The Post's website about who will be in the Knicks' eight-man rotation come playoffs.
00:34I need you to put your Mike Brown hat on again for me.
00:37Coach Brown, what's your eight-man rotation going to look like come first round?
00:43And why are you going with those guys?
00:46So let's see.
00:47Eight-man, we already know who the top six are, Brandon.
00:50Well, you know, we don't got to list them out, but I guess I'll do it for the sake of
00:52the show.
00:53So, you know, you got Brunson, you got Hart, you got OG, Bridges, Cat, there's Mitchell Robinson.
00:59And you know what?
01:00Outside of that, I think Landry Shaman is going to be a mainstay in there.
01:03And then as of right now, until we see him back, which that being Deuce McBride, it's going to be
01:07Jose Alvarado.
01:08And I think that's a good way to go with the eight-man rotation as of right now.
01:13Now, with that being said, I would hope that he extends it a little bit.
01:17I know it's a little bit more difficult in the postseason to give a lot of guys minutes just because
01:22it is a time crunch.
01:23And you want to make sure that your top guys are getting the bulk of the minutes, which is expected,
01:27right?
01:27I mean, these guys have been averaging pretty solid minutes, like 36 around that.
01:31A little bit healthier than we've seen in the past under Tom Thibodeau, where he was close to north of,
01:35you know, 38, close to 40.
01:37But I think those guys are going to take up their minutes.
01:39But that's the eight-man rotation I see as of right now.
01:42But, Coach, why do we need to go with the eight-man rotation?
01:46Remember, back in 2024 when the Pacers went on that Eastern Conference Finals run, Rick Carlisle went with the 10
01:53-man rotation.
01:55So, Coach, if you were to expand that eight to 10, who were the two dudes that you would put
02:01in there?
02:01Who were the two dudes that pretty much got snubbed?
02:04If I'm expanding it to 10, you know, with the Mike Brown hat on, okay, this is who it's going
02:10to be.
02:11It will be Mohamed Diawara and Jordan Clarkson.
02:14Those are the guys right there.
02:15Now, obviously, the case is, how does Deuce McBride look when he comes back?
02:19Shout out to your guy, Stephan Bondi, who reported that McBride is going through contact right now.
02:26So, if that's the case, he would slide in.
02:28And I think the guy on the outside looking in would probably be Mohamed Diawara.
02:32As Mike Brown said, Clarkson has surpassed Mohamed Diawara right now because of his veteran leadership and what he provides
02:42on the court.
02:43So, that's why if McBride comes back, if I'm going 10, Mohamed Diawara's on the outside looking in.
02:49And you got Clarkson and Deuce being 9 and 10 right there.
02:52But if Deuce is back and he's looking good, man, he surplains Alvarado, too.
02:56He's the eight-man right there.
02:59A lot of this all depends on how McBride looks.
03:01Deuce over GTA?
03:03We might have to have a poll on that one because I'm going GTA on that one, especially what he
03:08did on the paces last night.
03:09But to go back to Deuce, he thinks that he should or may be able to return to the court
03:15before the playoffs.
03:17But, you know, game one of the first round is a month away.
03:22So, how does Mike Brown get him minutes?
03:25And how long is Deuce's leash when he comes back?
03:28Because we all know the playoffs are a different beast.
03:32You know, that's going to be the trickiest thing possible, Brandon.
03:35And it's going to all be dependent on whether you ramp him up or you take it slow based on
03:41how he comes back in game one.
03:42And hopefully he gets some minutes prior to the end of the regular season.
03:46You know, the last thing you need is for him to be there game one of postseason and then really
03:50rely on him.
03:51But here's the one thing I'll give Deuce.
03:53He's been in playoff experiences before.
03:55We know two years ago what he did against the Philadelphia Sixers, 76ers.
03:58We know what he did last season in those rounds against Detroit and Boston.
04:03So, this is a guy who has that postseason experience right now.
04:06So, he knows the pace.
04:08He knows how to slow down.
04:09He's comfortable with that role.
04:13He's experienced it so far.
04:16I don't think he's going to be that big of an adjustment for him.
04:18But for him mentally, can he feel confident enough to do what he was doing prior to the injury?
04:24That's going to be the biggest question mark for Deuce McBride right now.
04:27All right, Alex, take the Mike Brown hat off.
04:30Not the Knicks Fan TV hat off.
04:32Take the Mike Brown hat off.
04:33You are Alex Chitaros.
04:35Real quick, final thoughts.
04:37One month away before stuff gets real in the city.
04:42Oh, man.
04:44Final thoughts.
04:45Give me some energy, too, man.
04:47We're one month away, man.
04:49Yeah, look, man.
04:49I'm excited, man.
04:50Look, I believe in this team.
04:51I believe in this team.
04:52They are number...
04:53Since January 21st, this team is number one in defensive rating.
04:56All right?
04:57The thing that actually is a little concerning to me is that this team, on the whole, for
05:01the regular season, they're number three in offensive rating according to NBA.com, their
05:05advanced stats, right?
05:07Now, since January 21st, same time where their defense has been number one, they actually
05:12dipped and went to number seven.
05:13And you can kind of see that little bit of a dip, right?
05:16You've seen Jalen Brunson struggle offensively.
05:18Mikal Bridges is going through it right now.
05:20Cat was trying to figure out where does he fit offensively.
05:22Josh Hart was going through his struggles as well.
05:24OG has had some quiet games.
05:26This entire team just needs to figure out offensively and quick, man, because we know, we've seen
05:31it at the beginning of the season when everyone's cutting, working the backdoor cuts, working
05:35the pick and roll, just being a full dynamic offensive juggernaut, sharing the rock.
05:41This team is so tough, man.
05:43You have five guys out there in that starting rotation that could put the ball in the hoop
05:47and you don't know how to account for them because they're able to move at a fast pace
05:50in the half court and they're able to get good looking, good look shots from downtown.
05:54So for this team, man, as long as they figure it out offensively and really could max maximize
06:01their potential, this team is set right now to make a big, big push in the postseason.
06:07I'm liking their chances, man.
06:08Not afraid of Detroit.
06:09Not afraid of the Celtics with Jason Tatum.
06:11All right.
06:12Give me the smoke, man.
06:13Like I said last year, give me the smoke with any of those teams, man.
06:15All right.
06:16Tell me right now who's going to stop him.
06:17He said it with his chest too.
06:19Go New York, go New York, go.
06:21Hey, Alex, appreciate you having the best this morning, man.
06:24Next time I'll have decaf coffee, bro.
06:27Appreciate you.
06:28Appreciate you as always, my man.
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