Jericho Sims
Uber athletic, with otherworldly bounce. He competes, and has clearly worked on his body as well. In terms of his game, he appears to have concentrated on his faciltating skils [4 assists last night], advancing the ball up court to initiate the offense, even breaking out some promising offensive moves in the paint. He was only Knick last night with a + number. He is a presence in the paint defensively, and had 11 rebounds.
All traits of his athleticism and big boy body.
Free throw shooting is not a subset of athleticism. His FT shooting is, if possible, even worse than Mitchell's. Last season he got to the line 29 times, and only converted 12 [.414%].
Against the Warriors, he was 2-3; the Bulls, 1-5. Last night against the Blazers, 0-3. His minutes going forward in 2022-23 will be impacted as much by what he does well, as what he does poorly. His progress has been impressive, and clearly he is a worker bee. This will be an interesting, ongoing narrative.
Grimes needs to work on his FT shooting as well. As much as he has worked on his game in terms of getting to the rack, this is part and parcel of being a starter, and an area wree Fournier trumps him, though Grimes' D is his hold card.
Thibs' Fingerprints
Well, for the most part, our team and individual defense in the three summer league games has been tenacious and focused. We were dominating as such against the Blazers in the first quarter last night.
However, the Blazers kept chipping away, and as the game progressed, displayed more energy and coherence and efficiency, while
THIS PARTICULAR STAT, though, Is CONCERNING.
Blazers were 30-62 from the floor, and converted 10-24 3-pointers, while exerting dominance on the boards, 49-30, to particular effect in the fourth quarter when they put us away.
Knicks were 29-76 from the floor, while converting only 11-41 3-pointers.
I'm a big McBride booster, and his defensive inteisty and focus is stellar. He is more decisive on offense, but he has yet to prove conclusively that he can break down the D and get to the rack consistently, which is an area of strength for both Brunson AND Rose, and an area where IQ has made progress.
But while Deuce and Grimes and this new kid Keels clearly have 3-point range, that 2021-22 Thibs signature offense of falling back on threes, Threes, and MORE THREES is disquieting.
Having Brunson and a healthy Rose penetrating offers the promise of opening up cutting lanes for the likes of Barrett and Randle, Fournier and Grimes, Reddish and Quickley, Toppin and Hartenstein.
IT IS AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF OUR EVOLTUION AS A TEAM.
Watching the Warriors kids last Friday night, they clearly reflected Steve Kerr's signature offensive sets, which evince lots of motion and cutters, lost of cutting.
This default fall back on the ball moving around the horn, and hoisting threes, is not encouraging. We have too much athleticism to not move on from this. OF COURSE, a three point threat is a big part of the modern NBA offense, but seeing a dimnant physical specimen such as Julius Randle camped out 25 feet from the hoop seems to not address his strengths...
ANYWAY...
Having said all that, an identifiable defensive culture appears to be evolving apace, while our offense is still hit or miss, depending on whether or not the fruit is falling.
Poll
