The Knicks faced their Western Conference counterparts in the nameless Thunder on Friday in the world’s empty Arena.
Each club entered the pandemic season perceived as tank teams that stored draft selections.
Something fun happened on the way to another trip to the Knicks lottery. Tom Thibodeau’s team has been the best start to eight games in the franchise since 2012-13: the last time James Dolan’s club made the playoffs.
Thibodeau and his defense, who are seventh in the NBA in defensive efficiency, have earned most of the credit. ESPN’s new broadcast star and former Thunder center Kendrick Perkins, however, announced the Knicks’ new offense, also built by Thibodeau.
Perkins, Thibodeau finally sees the light at this end of the field. Perkins was the center of the Celtics for three seasons when Thibodeau was Doc Rivers’ assistant coach in Boston.
“When he was out of his two years, he was reevaluated and came back with a different coach,” Perkins told “The Jump” on Thursday. “Because some of the plays they’re making and some of the freedom they have on offense, I’ve never seen a Tom Thibodeau team have so much freedom. But I love it. ”
Soon, Thibodeau will get credit for inventing the synthetic protein that drives the new vaccine. Seriously, Perkins’ statements on national television deserve further inspection before confirming their veracity.
Yes, the Knicks play at a faster pace, hit triples with higher efficiency and move the ball better than with Jeff Hornacek, David Fizdale and Mike Miller.
But what about X and O and more freedom? They still rank 28th in the average score (104 ppg).
The real upside is that players are sinking (hello Austin Rivers), not Thibodeau’s offensive genius.
“I still see some vanilla for that reason,” said Bryan Oringher, a former Wizards, Hawks and Raptors explorer who posted a two-part Scouting review on his YouTube channel on Thursday. “But they definitely defend.”
In fact, Knicks center-back Mitchell Robinson doesn’t see much change in terms of offensive schemes from year to year.
In the first eight games, Thibodeau has been left with the same five starters – all returning players, including Robinson.
“That’s a good question,” Robinson said after Friday’s shooting, when asked the difference between this season’s offense and last season’s offense. “It simply came to our notice then. We are getting tired of the seasons we pass. It’s time we stepped up our game. We just came up with a different mindset and we got on with it. “
Hi, Julius Randle.
He’s a different player after his extensive starting season in Dallas, though some in-depth analytics don’t show his impact as much as a mere sight. (It only ranks 51st in the all-inclusive player efficiency ranking. So much for analytics.)
Randle defends and breaks it offensively, with All-Star numbers of 23.1 points, 12 rebounds and 7.4 assists. He also played the second minute more in the NBA.
Oringher is still unsure whether this Randle is the “baffling” version or the new Randle in the future, saying the Texas Southpaw is playing “out of their scary mind.”
In Wednesday’s comeback win over the Jazz, Randle fell in the second half, racking up 30 points over Rudy Gobert.
“Rudy Gobert has won the Defensive Player of the Year awards and Julius has given nothing away,” Oringher said in the video. “It went straight through Rudy, ‘You’re too small to protect me.’
“He’s doing what he did last year,” Oringher added. “He’s doing better.”
RJ Barrett was so fed up with losing his rookie year that he didn’t care who got the credit for the 5-3 start. Barrett was not specific to the new offensive machinations used by Thibodeau, but said: “I will say everything that Thibs is doing offensively, defensively, is working so far. [We’re] really trying to emphasize playing together, everyone moves and shares the ball. “
Make no mistake, the Knicks got a steal from Thibodeau and were lucky that other pretentious suitors got involved in the resumption of the NBA bubble while the Knicks were eliminated. But we give more congratulations to guys like the starting point of the return Elfrid Payton, who, as Oringher claims, “is the master of the eight-meter shot.”
And Reggie Bullock, who is healthy again and runs out of 3 points and hurries to look for loose balls. And Barrett, who still doesn’t play 3, but is doing the rest, mocking the exclusion of the two All-Rookie teams.
As for new additions, Austin Rivers has been Austin Powers. Immanuel Quickley quickly became the thief of the draft, to this day. And when he gets healthy, Alec Burks, with a sweet shot, will continue to turn the Knicks into a decent 3-point shooting club.
Thibodeau has shown his ability to stay with the right players in the fourth quarter, a cardinal sin for Fizdale.
But let’s also be real. Players, especially returnees, are also making Thibodeau look good.