"Death to the Pessimistic State of Mind" - Nas Voice: NYK '23 Pre-Season Thread

[Wargames]

Thibs didn't exactly love coaching him.

Tyus was getting screwed over for minutes so much, the guy who was getting his minutes (Jeff Teague) was insisting Tyus Jones play more.

Thibs avoids playing young players. The Knicks would have likely had a better record this year if Thibs played the kids more and he refused until the last couple of games. The current Tyus plays like a mix of Andre Miller and Ricky Rubio. Thibs would play him with the starters and not even blink.

 

[TOAD99]

I think they are going to go after Tyus Jones with the MLE and the promise to start. With that said, 11 is wide open. Knicks need cheap rookie talent.

I like Jones

 

[storyteller]

Rokas Jokubaitis threw a pass today that is just ridiculous. I'd embed a clip, but the website's not back to full function yet.

1:25 into the video linked in this tweet lol...



Two things that stand out in his three assists in the highlights:
1. How fast he can release the pass. His shoulders are squared in the opposite direction until the last second. That sells fakes and makes it harder for help defenders to anticipate. All ball-handlers learn to sell their head and shoulders while playmaking. But how fast he can switch directions and pass accurately is pretty impressive.

2. Timing, timing, timing. He hits each one of these players in stride. They don't even have to change speeds. It's three different angles, three different passes, and each one hits the scorer in unison with their motion toward the hoop.

Idk how he'll handle NBA speed and athleticism (he started to adjust to summer league speed but there's a second leap once you get to the regular season and it's even bigger). But this kid's got true point guard abilities that are pretty advanced and promising.

 

[Ironman]

Rokas Jokubaitis threw a pass today that is just ridiculous. I'd embed a clip, but the website's not back to full function yet.

1:25 into the video linked in this tweet lol...



Two things that stand out in his three assists in the highlights:
1. How fast he can release the pass. His shoulders are squared in the opposite direction until the last second. That sells fakes and makes it harder for help defenders to anticipate. All ball-handlers learn to sell their head and shoulders while playmaking. But how fast he can switch directions and pass accurately is pretty impressive.

2. Timing, timing, timing. He hits each one of these players in stride. They don't even have to change speeds. It's three different angles, three different passes, and each one hits the scorer in unison with their motion toward the hoop.

Idk how he'll handle NBA speed and athleticism (he started to adjust to summer league speed but there's a second leap once you get to the regular season and it's even bigger). But this kid's got true point guard abilities that are pretty advanced and promising.

Big problem is Rokas has no interest in coming here especially knowing Thibs won't play him.

 

[storyteller]

Big problem is Rokas has no interest in coming here especially knowing Thibs won't play him.

It's not that he has no interest in coming over. He doesn't want to come over unless he's confident he'll get to play (and he means in the NBA, not G-league). The fact that Thibs probably wouldn't play him is really the only thing that'd hold him back. But the tenor of his interview where he said "two more years" was "when I'm confident that I'll get playing time as soon as I get there, I'm excited to go."

His two years comment got the focus. But buried in that interview he mentioned that the summer league coaching staff has been writing to him back and forth directly; that the Knicks FO has been in frequent communication with his agent; and that the team had scouts and staff present when he balled out in the Copa. I don't know where Thibs stands, but I think the front office has shown signs that they're very interested in this kid's development (and the league will have taken notice by now too, since he won that rising star award).

My biggest concern is that he'll be the trade chip they dangle in place of names like Obi or IQ. Not that I'd prefer they trade Obi or IQ at all. But I'd rather hang on to him, even if we're stashing him for another year or two. He's with a fantastic coaching staff and one of the best teams in Europe. I want to hang on to him and see if he takes another leap. It'll be frustrating if the only thing holding us back from seeing this kid develop stateside is Thibodeau.

 

[Wargames]

It's not that he has no interest in coming over. He doesn't want to come over unless he's confident he'll get to play (and he means in the NBA, not G-league). The fact that Thibs probably wouldn't play him is really the only thing that'd hold him back. But the tenor of his interview where he said "two more years" was "when I'm confident that I'll get playing time as soon as I get there, I'm excited to go."

His two years comment got the focus. But buried in that interview he mentioned that the summer league coaching staff has been writing to him back and forth directly; that the Knicks FO has been in frequent communication with his agent; and that the team had scouts and staff present when he balled out in the Copa. I don't know where Thibs stands, but I think the front office has shown signs that they're very interested in this kid's development (and the league will have taken notice by now too, since he won that rising star award).

My biggest concern is that he'll be the trade chip they dangle in place of names like Obi or IQ. Not that I'd prefer they trade Obi or IQ at all. But I'd rather hang on to him, even if we're stashing him for another year or two. He's with a fantastic coaching staff and one of the best teams in Europe. I want to hang on to him and see if he takes another leap. It'll be frustrating if the only thing holding us back from seeing this kid develop stateside is Thibodeau.

Who knows what the plan is, Thibs might not be here in two years

 

[RickyGQ]

Donovan Mitchell been kicking it with IQ and was at MSG last night for the Rangers game

 

[Typical Knicks Fan]

I had a dream we lucked out and drafted Paolo Banchero.

 

[K-Deini]

Clearly frank was the x factor to get this mavs team to the wcf

 

[storyteller]

Clearly frank was the x factor to get this mavs team to the wcf

 

[Stop_It_5]

Shout out to World Wide Wes, everywhere we go we leave a World Wide Mess

 

[RickyGQ]

 

[storyteller]

Dude looks a monster on tape. I wish we'd gotten to see him in competitive play. I have a feeling he'll be top-five off workouts alone.

 

[RickyGQ]

Dude looks a monster on tape. I wish we'd gotten to see him in competitive play. I have a feeling he'll be top-five off workouts alone.

Do we know if he’s going to participate in the combine?

 

[storyteller]

Do we know if he’s going to participate in the combine?

He's on the participants' list, but it's always worth noting that this stuff is subject to change and players don't always participate in every aspect of the combine. I hate getting excited for the scrimmages and then half the interesting players aren't partaking in that part.

But here's the list
Who Is Participating in the 2022 NBA Draft Combine? Full List Revealed – NBC4 Washington