Have been impressed with Mudiay's defense, court vision and composure in end game situations.
Runs the team well, sees openings developing or about to develop, hits the open man (often in full stride and with a court length pass), gets the team into a good rhythm.
Obviously his offensive shortcomings are holding him back, but his aptitude for the PG position keeps him in any discussion.
Emmanuel will get his minutes, one way or another.
Just watching a DVR of last night's game, while plenty to be dismayed about, any number of encouraging signs, such as Ntilikina's sense of purpose and command, Hezonja staying aggressive and starting to build some confidence and get in some sort of rhythm, the possibility of Kornet's treys and of interior D, Vonleh's aggression (a double edged sword), Robinson's talent, Dotson being opportunistic in limited minutes, and Timmy focusing more on attacking the rim rather than simply launching ICBMs.
Defense? Too many breakdowns and lack of cohesion and communication. The heart is willing but the flesh is weak. Nyets fed them their face, and they seemed baffled as to how to close out on the open three. Coach & His Staff won't let them phone it in, and will live with the breakdowns (more or less) we saw last night, in lieu of effort and commitment. But while there were flashes of good D, too many breakdowns and brain farts, and a tad lackadaisical at points. WILL NOT DO.
Knox? Welcome to the NBA, rook. Fizz force feeding him, which makes sense in a season of soft-tanking (I.E; developmental). He has to stay aggressive, which seems to be Coach's M.O. Not that Fizz is soft pedaling his shortcomings. Asked about the reality of earned minutes, Fizz allowed as how Kevin is an exception, which acknowledging in no uncertain terms that his play in the last two games: "He STUNK."
Not so much that Knox has been anointed, as he has been given the green light to play through his inexperience and mistakes in this transitional season. Have to figure as Fizz arrives at some more steady rotations, that Knox will learn to pick his spots better, and teammates will put him in a more positive position to succeed.
Back to Mudiay.
Coach has indicated he wants to kind of top out floor minutes at around 28 on average.
Again, the standard wisdom is shorter manageable rotations.
I get it.
But Fizz clearly wants to keep everyone on their toes and involved and pulling for each other.
Ergo, spotting Frank minutes at 1-through-4 in the small ball epoch, to open up more minutes for both Burke and Mudiay.
Building confidence in the likes of Hezonja and Vonleh and Kornet.
I would expect, as per those 28 minutes, to see Kanter and Hardaway get more burn, more usage, and upon occasion, Knox, to force feed him and fast track the growth process, in which nothing succeeds quite like success, save perhaps for the lack of success, and how you bounce back.
Am quite keen to see Lee come back, vis a vis all of the small ball, multi-PG sets Fizz seems to favor.
Anyway, such is life on Planet Knickerbocker in the Soft Tanking Epoch. And check out how out of their minds the Garden faithful were when we made that late Mudiay-Assisted Run. Always a cheer for honest effort and tenacity.
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