I find this to a very interesting post. To your point, I'm not really sure how they can scale up with Bridges as the P&R guy, but I'm not sure they have too many other options.
One thought I've had in the past: can they run more inverted P&R to get Towns driving downhill? He certainly isn't Chris Paul, but if they simplified his reads as a passer, I wonder if he couldn't survive doing it a few times a game. Not sure what the numbers say about that, and given he is also the team's best floor spacer besides Brunson, it might be dead in the water.
But something has to change, to your point. I found that graph of their declining P&R PPP by month quite compelling.
1. Bridges isn't a good primary PnR ball-handling option. The simple solution is to go under; teams would LOVE it if Bridges wanted to try to beat them by shooting 10 off the dribble threes.
^^ Dead in the water option ^^
2. Ehhh, Towns isn't a great ball handler (otherwise, they would be running a lot more Towns DHO actions). His passing in the short roll or on early rotations in the PnPop isn't great either — if you can't make good passing reads in those types of advantage situations, it doesn't bode well for playing as the primary ball handler in PnR actions.
Plus - teams are playing with more switchable defenders on Towns, so an easy switch is the most likely outcome of the inverted PnR.
Two simple options seem possible:
1. Post the Towns switches in the PnR like BOS does KP and see if he can start to punish.
2. Might be time to break up the volume of minutes the Starting 5 is together and layer in more multiple ball-handling + shooter players in lineups with Brunson, Payne, and McBride
Another excellent Neil and Marc collab. From a roster perspective, The Knicks is in no man's land. They don't have the superstar talent that is common among elite teams but unlike many of the elite teams today, they don't have much depth. I think they best 5 is as good as anyone, but they are not going to dominate other elite starting five like the 17-18 Warriors. I think they are still a title contender but behind Boston, Cleveland, OKC, and Dallas.
They aren’t in my inner circle of title contenders, either.
Neil and I left a bit on the cutting room floor regarding how title teams are built through multiple draft cycles. The Knicks don’t really fall into that category and it effects how the roster can be built.
Depends. Will Mike Brown attempt to replicate SAC's offense or tailor it to KAT’s strengths?
The Sabonis ball handling, rebound -> push, and DHO optionality is what made the Mike Brown offense in SAC special. KAT can't do that stuff at the same level.
Regardless it does feel highly unlikely this deal would happen. But SAC would basically be getting off money a year early, add some Charlotte draft capital but not much, and Charlotte would be taking a swing on KAT
Watching tonight’s game makes it clear the Knicks have more problems (the bench’s lack of size and athleticism, transition defense, etc) than just this but my two biggest concerns with the Knicks are as you’ve mentioned
1) The lack of a second true creator and just the lack of pull up shooting ability. Do you think a team can win a championship without a second creator?
2) The lack of a synergistic Brunson-Towns two man game. You wouldn’t think given Towns is a far better offensive player than Hartenstein that the Brunson-Hartenstein 2 man game would be more effective, and I don’t have the data on hand to back this up, but it feels like to me that Hartensteins screening, roll + playmaking ability was far more synergistic and created more advantages for the Brunson and the team. It feels like Sabonis could replicate that but at an ever higher level offensively while obviously not being the rim protector iHart was. But then you lose KATs off ball gravity, catch and shoot ability. Sabonis would also seem to solve the second creator problem?
Laaate reply, but fitting watching the knicks during the postseason. While the numbers may not back it up, neither do the funny bullet pass clips, I feel like Towns has the tools to be a hub on offense and work the high post. We've seen flashes of good passing from, I think he's underrated in that regard. Id like to see him grow as a player in that direction, and of course have a coach that requests/demands that of him. Easier said than done, but I think there's something there, and they went to it early in the season and while JB is out. Other than that.
Thanks for checking out the piece. Ehhh not sure that I see it the way you do with Towns as a hub. He's a phenomenal scorer of the basketball, but he doesn't possess the skills you need to be a hub of an offense at the highest levels.
Hm, there's more than enough video online from Minny and NY that show examples of good passing, and some of his passing metrics on bball index are comparable to guys like hartenstein and sabonis. That to me shows it's an underrated aspect of his game and something to build on.
I find this to a very interesting post. To your point, I'm not really sure how they can scale up with Bridges as the P&R guy, but I'm not sure they have too many other options.
One thought I've had in the past: can they run more inverted P&R to get Towns driving downhill? He certainly isn't Chris Paul, but if they simplified his reads as a passer, I wonder if he couldn't survive doing it a few times a game. Not sure what the numbers say about that, and given he is also the team's best floor spacer besides Brunson, it might be dead in the water.
But something has to change, to your point. I found that graph of their declining P&R PPP by month quite compelling.
Great thoughts, as always, Mike!!
1. Bridges isn't a good primary PnR ball-handling option. The simple solution is to go under; teams would LOVE it if Bridges wanted to try to beat them by shooting 10 off the dribble threes.
^^ Dead in the water option ^^
2. Ehhh, Towns isn't a great ball handler (otherwise, they would be running a lot more Towns DHO actions). His passing in the short roll or on early rotations in the PnPop isn't great either — if you can't make good passing reads in those types of advantage situations, it doesn't bode well for playing as the primary ball handler in PnR actions.
Plus - teams are playing with more switchable defenders on Towns, so an easy switch is the most likely outcome of the inverted PnR.
Two simple options seem possible:
1. Post the Towns switches in the PnR like BOS does KP and see if he can start to punish.
2. Might be time to break up the volume of minutes the Starting 5 is together and layer in more multiple ball-handling + shooter players in lineups with Brunson, Payne, and McBride
3. Schematically, New York could help themselves in the Hart and Brubson PnR by putting Bridges in the dunker spot.
It's very similar to what BOS did in the finals against DAL.
This would allow them to dictate Bridges’ defender, most likely the weakest defender in Low Man Help with towns and OG spacing the floor.
^^ I assume you will see this a lot in a PO setting. ^^
Another excellent Neil and Marc collab. From a roster perspective, The Knicks is in no man's land. They don't have the superstar talent that is common among elite teams but unlike many of the elite teams today, they don't have much depth. I think they best 5 is as good as anyone, but they are not going to dominate other elite starting five like the 17-18 Warriors. I think they are still a title contender but behind Boston, Cleveland, OKC, and Dallas.
Thanks, Marc!
They aren’t in my inner circle of title contenders, either.
Neil and I left a bit on the cutting room floor regarding how title teams are built through multiple draft cycles. The Knicks don’t really fall into that category and it effects how the roster can be built.
10 months later, this post seems more relevant than ever. Do you see Sabonis as a better fit for the Knicks and pairing with Brunson?
Depends. Will Mike Brown attempt to replicate SAC's offense or tailor it to KAT’s strengths?
The Sabonis ball handling, rebound -> push, and DHO optionality is what made the Mike Brown offense in SAC special. KAT can't do that stuff at the same level.
Time will tell how it goes.
Regardless it does feel highly unlikely this deal would happen. But SAC would basically be getting off money a year early, add some Charlotte draft capital but not much, and Charlotte would be taking a swing on KAT
Watching tonight’s game makes it clear the Knicks have more problems (the bench’s lack of size and athleticism, transition defense, etc) than just this but my two biggest concerns with the Knicks are as you’ve mentioned
1) The lack of a second true creator and just the lack of pull up shooting ability. Do you think a team can win a championship without a second creator?
2) The lack of a synergistic Brunson-Towns two man game. You wouldn’t think given Towns is a far better offensive player than Hartenstein that the Brunson-Hartenstein 2 man game would be more effective, and I don’t have the data on hand to back this up, but it feels like to me that Hartensteins screening, roll + playmaking ability was far more synergistic and created more advantages for the Brunson and the team. It feels like Sabonis could replicate that but at an ever higher level offensively while obviously not being the rim protector iHart was. But then you lose KATs off ball gravity, catch and shoot ability. Sabonis would also seem to solve the second creator problem?
Laaate reply, but fitting watching the knicks during the postseason. While the numbers may not back it up, neither do the funny bullet pass clips, I feel like Towns has the tools to be a hub on offense and work the high post. We've seen flashes of good passing from, I think he's underrated in that regard. Id like to see him grow as a player in that direction, and of course have a coach that requests/demands that of him. Easier said than done, but I think there's something there, and they went to it early in the season and while JB is out. Other than that.
Thanks for checking out the piece. Ehhh not sure that I see it the way you do with Towns as a hub. He's a phenomenal scorer of the basketball, but he doesn't possess the skills you need to be a hub of an offense at the highest levels.
Hm, there's more than enough video online from Minny and NY that show examples of good passing, and some of his passing metrics on bball index are comparable to guys like hartenstein and sabonis. That to me shows it's an underrated aspect of his game and something to build on.