sdizzle
Pro
Seems his offensive system so far is iso ball and giving it to the guy that shoots the mostfiz Needs to implement an offensive system or
Last 18/19 NY Knicks season transmission: "F*** all the haters from you to SAS" See y'all in '20
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Lurk Angle
All Star
Yup and it’s hurting them
On both ends
seemorecizzy
Superstar
golden state is one of the greatest offensive teams of all time fam, they aint winnin because of defense lol
seemorecizzy
Superstar
d
didnt frank and dotson start when orlando blew us out by 30 on our own floor?
Then how is that that before Frank and Dot got into the game it was looking to be a 30 point loss and then when they get in and play D this becomes a game
didnt frank and dotson start when orlando blew us out by 30 on our own floor?
ikbm
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the sixers play great defense, the celtics, the raptors, bucks....etc etc...I can go on and on.
all the contenders in the east play well above average defense.
I used the warriors as an example. warriors aint winning shyt giving up 130 a game to mediocre ass teams like the magic
the teams that are all winning right now are all top 10 in defensive rating...with hosts of defensive minded players.
because the rules are catered toward offense..it puts defense at a premium.
ignore the obvious positive records
several contenders in this list....and the teams not listed ...the warriors specifically are known for turning it up on that end...but they havent....which with curry being out is one of the reasons they've sputtered recently
we're not losing games cause the offense is bad
we are literally bottom 3 in the nba defensively.
seemorecizzy
Superstar
curry is not a good defender lolthe sixers play great defense, the celtics, the raptors, bucks....etc etc...I can go on and on.
all the contenders in the east play well above average defense.
I used the warriors as an example. warriors aint winning shyt giving up 130 a game to mediocre ass teams like the magic
the teams that are all winning right now are all top 10 in defensive rating...with hosts of defensive minded players.
because the rules are catered toward offense..it puts defense at a premium.
ignore the obvious positive records
several contenders in this list....and the teams not listed ...the warriors specifically are known for turning it up on that end...but they havent....which with curry being out is one of the reasons they've sputtered recently
we're not losing games cause the offense is bad
we are literally bottom 3 in the nba defensively.
gs is losing because they are missin his offense
you're taking things too literally
obviously defense matters to an degree, but its an offense/talent league
no guard in the league is getting mins to score 0 points and play "above avg" defense for 20 plus minutes
you gotta be able to do both at that position
also, wejust dont have the talent to compete defensively no matter who you put out there. its not the coach, we need better players.
Columbo
Lieutenant
As far as im concerned Fiz is doing a terrific job. Were tied with the Bulls as the 4th worst team. Hopefully their euro cac comes back soon, when he does theyll be winning a few more games
Were already off to a good start, it makes no sense to try to win games
The one mistake Fiz has made to keep it a buck he needs to get Timmy jr the fukk out of there. Have him go down and hold his knee, or at least cut his minutes back
Stretch the Porzingis injury out til March, we dont want wristflaps winning games for us late in the season either. Just give him light minutes and no back to backs
Every year we dont do a proper tank job, this is the year where were in position early to get a top 3 pick
Were already off to a good start, it makes no sense to try to win games
The one mistake Fiz has made to keep it a buck he needs to get Timmy jr the fukk out of there. Have him go down and hold his knee, or at least cut his minutes back
Stretch the Porzingis injury out til March, we dont want wristflaps winning games for us late in the season either. Just give him light minutes and no back to backs
Every year we dont do a proper tank job, this is the year where were in position early to get a top 3 pick
Bobby Lashleys eyebrows
Superstar
It's not him. It's the team. You could put Greg Popovich and Mike Budenholzer as coaches and they would still be doing just as bad.fiz Needs to implement an offensive system or
Bobby Lashleys eyebrows
Superstar
If we keep losing like this we might fukk around and get Zion and Nassir Little.
Youhadasparkwhenustarted
Superstar
That's more a personnel issue than a coach issue. The Knicks are a poor shooting team, players like Tim, Trier and Knox are at their best when isolating, and all of the pg's on the team are doing a poor job of being a pg tbh. It's waaaaaayyy too early to turn on Fizdale.fiz Needs to implement an offensive system or
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ikbm
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warriors have been a top 5 defensive team the last 5 years
roster composition is trash, fiz needs to balance his roster with atleast one perimeter defender on the court at all times
there's only so much he can do with this trash tho
Miles Davis
Prince of Darkness
If that’s the case we shouldn’t of drafted two iso players.
storyteller
Veteran
http://bball-index.com/in-depth-look-into-ntilikinas-shooting/
It's chicken or the egg, but that "Knicks are better when Frank plays more than 30 minutes" coincides with "Frank's a better shooter when he plays more than 30 minutes." The guarantee here is that when Frank plays well, the Knicks are a much better team. Being able to keep him out there helps the defense exponentially regardless of how often heads try to downplay it. The speculation part is whether Frank needs more time out there to get into a rhythm or if he gets more time out there because he's in a rhythm so the coach finds it easier to keep him playing. I lean more to the first option, but the only way to confirm this would be to actually put the ball in his hands for consistent attempts which isn't happening because THJ, Trey, Trier and Mudiay all need touches to be effective while Frank has been pushed back to his season opening role of floor spacer and catch and shoot player.
Edit: Let me cut this off before someone tries to one liner respond to this about the starts he got. Yes Frank got a shot with consistent touches and wound up benched anyway, but the numbers from the one consistent run of getting 30 mpg are actually promising. It's a 6 game span of consecutive 30 minutes games where he shot 38% from three (albeit inconsistently) and averaged 5 apg. He either scored in double digits or got 5 or more assists in every one of those games. He didn't put it together but he produced with consistent touches.
It's chicken or the egg, but that "Knicks are better when Frank plays more than 30 minutes" coincides with "Frank's a better shooter when he plays more than 30 minutes." The guarantee here is that when Frank plays well, the Knicks are a much better team. Being able to keep him out there helps the defense exponentially regardless of how often heads try to downplay it. The speculation part is whether Frank needs more time out there to get into a rhythm or if he gets more time out there because he's in a rhythm so the coach finds it easier to keep him playing. I lean more to the first option, but the only way to confirm this would be to actually put the ball in his hands for consistent attempts which isn't happening because THJ, Trey, Trier and Mudiay all need touches to be effective while Frank has been pushed back to his season opening role of floor spacer and catch and shoot player.
Edit: Let me cut this off before someone tries to one liner respond to this about the starts he got. Yes Frank got a shot with consistent touches and wound up benched anyway, but the numbers from the one consistent run of getting 30 mpg are actually promising. It's a 6 game span of consecutive 30 minutes games where he shot 38% from three (albeit inconsistently) and averaged 5 apg. He either scored in double digits or got 5 or more assists in every one of those games. He didn't put it together but he produced with consistent touches.
storyteller
Veteran
It's hard to follow Fizdale's philosophy after a night like last. He says that he's prioritizing the development of the youth, but 56 of the Knicks 87 FGA's went to Hardaway, Burke and Kanter. Those guys produced gaudy statlines with those looks while the Knicks got waxed from end to end with just one big run in the second quarter that was marked by the defensive effort moreso than the scoring. Fiz built expectations around a team that would be defense first but he's rewarded the scorers, each of whom has proven weak defensively. I'm completely on board for taking losses as they come with this team which is so young and clearly overmatched while it awaits its star player along with the reinforcements that cap space and another high pick will offer. But I'm not on board with watching isolation basketball on one end and poor defensive effort on the other end. I honestly don't know how anyone can watch an effort like last night and come away thinking "this is what's best for the future." Not unless we're giving up the max space to re-sign players that can put up a beautiful stat-line that has not correlated with wins dating back to last season, because those are the players taking all the shots and getting all of the touches. The ones we'll need to renounce rights to just to make realistic offers to winning basketball players.
Mudiay: Emmanuel Mudiay is really finding his comfort attacking the rack and his midrange pull-up game held firm for another night. That said, he continues to zero in on finishing at the expense of ball movement. This isn't just on him, the entire offense seems to be stagnating with very little off ball movement and one or two pass possessions dominating the scheme. Mudiay clocked 12 points on 5/8 shooting over 23 minutes adding 2 assists to 2 turnovers in that span. This was also one of his weaker defensive efforts best defined by the backdoor cut he gave up to PF Jonathon Isaac that sealed the game late in the fourth quarter. The Knicks third starting PG so far has been solid so far as a man to man defender but his help defense and awareness is still a notch below. He might skip into the passing lane once in awhile but he'll also miss a ton of nuances while he's on the weakside. That's not to pin the recent defense to Mudiay, but weakside rotations are at the heart of the team defense folding and Mudiay is one of many players that this has been an issue for. There's still serious promise if he can keep getting to the rim and finishing, but I'd like to see him add some more playmaking now. He got the ball moving in his first start, this time the ball movement was flat.
Hardaway: Hard to be mad at 9/20 from the field, 5/10 from three and 8/10 from the line out of Tim Hardaway. He's our lead scorer and played like one chipping in 32 points, 2 assists, 2 boards and 3 steals with just 1 TO out his 36 minute attack. Jr's becoming a serious headache for defenses in the pick and roll. He's got at scoring from all three levels as long as he gets a bit of space to operate. On defense there's promise in his ability to anticipate and skip into the passing lane for steals or jump i front of a slasher to draw charges; but when that anticipation short circuits he's liable to leave a Vucevic wide open for three because he's lined up too far away. In general, the whole anticipation defense is ripe for the picking as teams run more action and force more rotations. He's giving us a lot to look forward to though, when KP returns and he moves into a less ball dominant role with more space and less defensive attention. Fiz just has to make sure Timmy is letting his energy stay high even in defensive situations where he's not expecting to be attacked.
Knox: This was a bad game for Kevin Knox, who didn't get very consistent touches and was targeted by Orlando forwards as pick and roll ball handlers. Not many teams can do that consistently but Gordon and Isaac both attacked the youngster off the dribble. The weakside defense that I mentioned in the Mudiay bit stood out most of all when Knox was in these situations. He was giving up the step and nobody was rotating to contest his man. It was the kinda defensive help that will exacerbate things for an already struggling defender. Scoring wise, Knox managed just 2/8 from the field for 4 points and 2 boards in 23 minutes without getting much rhythm. His takes felt like "I need to make something happen with this possession" as much as anything which meant some poor decisions with the rock. The 2 rebounds at PF is also just too low a number as our second biggest guy on the floor by a wide margin when he starts. Knox can get himself some easy opportunities by attacking the offensive glass but the effort has come and gone periodically.
Trier: Allonzo Trier and Trey Burke are redundant pieces...that's been my theory since preseason. But I don't actually think Burke's success last night was the main source of Trier getting benched after just 13 minutes. Like others, Iso-Zo showed serious deficiencies on weak side rotations and unlike the others it's been a continuous flaw over the course of a few consecutive games. He went from communication issues with Hezonja to the same with Knox and Hardaway. This feels like rookie defense though, just a natural problem where rookies and young players stay way too attached to their own man when they should float closer to where the action is and cut off a lane. Offensively, honestly Zo was alright in limited looks. Allonzo went 2/5 for 7 points and 2 boards which is solid production for such a limited time out there and especially true when you look at the way FGA's were laid out. He's good enough offensively right now to get more opportunities but team defense is where he needs to solidify his game.
Mitch: It was hard to tell where Mitch's struggles last night really began. Vucevic has been a handful for everybody this season and everyone in a Knicks jersey dating back as far as I can remember. Mitch was also victimized by the rest of the team not make their rotations and his own overzealous attempts to make up for it. He can't help but bump a guy or try to attack a player with a lane. This all meant Mitch clocked 5 fouls in just 9 minutes for no points, 2 boards and just 1 steal. He never got a chance to impact the game although he did set more than enough screens to get at least a lob...
Kanter: Enes Kanter was about as good as you can ask for last night. He poured in 21 points, 19 boards and 3 assists along with more effort defensively than usual. Kanter was good scoring inside regardless of match-up and was on the only Knick having an impact on the boards. He also had moments like a block of Vucevic and some challenges on jump shooters that stood out mainly because Mike Breen made sure to shout out every instance. On the other hand, we still got moments where Kanter stuck to his man more tightly than even Allonzo Trier (who might I remind you is a rookie) and also there were 4 TO's mostly the result of offensive fouling. Kanter led the team with 38 minutes and came one board from a 20/20 night; but the Knicks got spanked for 14 points which is like a living, breathing embodiment of the "Kanter puts up empty stats" arguments. This was probably as good as you can hope for but it didn't translate to team success.
Burke: Trey Burke as the sixth man scorer looks more and more viable. He had another wildly efficient night that was lacking in playmaking for anyone else but hard to complain about due to his scoring. Trey I dropped 31 points off of 11/20 from the field and 8/10 from the free throw line; his three point shot was the only thing absent as he went 1/7 from range. The scoring is the player though; he tallied just 3 boards, 2 steals and 2 assists against 3 turnovers across the rest of his box score in 29 minutes. Like Kanter, this is probably near the peak of what you can ask for and in a few ways it was more promising. But Burke on the ball for 30 minutes comes with the caveat that he's not much in game management and his productivity is mainly retained in his ability to shoot pull up midrange jumpers or finish difficult lay-ups inside. Trey's in the right role as sixth man and I think it's becoming more apparent that the situations where you maximize his value are all circumstances where he's the first and second option to shoot.
Vonleh: Noah Vonleh saw a 35 minute night as Mitch couldn't stop fouling and Enes Kanter still needs spells for any defensive push. For the most part, he was solid in that time with 7 points, 9 boards, an assist and block with 2 turnovers as a blemish. That said, it stood out late when he wasn't able to win some important battles with the Vucevic/Isaac tandem on the glass and inside in general. He was 2/5 with one of his makes being an outlier 3 pointer. So Vonleh was legitimate mixed bag in this one...he gave plenty of good but with a mix of mistakes that took some of the luster off of the performance. I've got to admit though, I'm really intrigued at what a Vonleh/KP front court would look like. Vonleh adds the physicality and rebounding that KP sometimes lacks while the unicorn would stretch the floor to keep spacing strong. It could workout well.
Frank: The game looked like it would be lost in the first quarter until Frank Ntilikina and Damyean Dotson checked in to provide the only quality help defense that we would see all night. Frank's ability to impact the offense positively or negatively was mitigated almost entirely as Fiz pushed him off ball for all but a handful of possessions. The rock moved through Trey Burke almost exclusively and Frank was back to playing some minutes as the weak side forward along the baseline for a majority of his time. That's not an excuse though, Frank didn't make the sorts of cuts off the ball that might command a ball handler's attention to draw a pass. When Frank came up with rebounds, he found the PG which is usually a good thing but we've seen even Noah Vonleh take the rock up court himself. That might not be supportive of pace and Frank is usually making a generally wise play in getting it to the focal point of the offense; but you'd like to see him break away from the scheme and show some creativity...there's some flare and creativity to his PnR offense, but he rarely flashes that any other times offensively. Frank finished with just one missed attempt from the field in 22 minutes while rocking 2 assists, 2 boards and a steal. If you watched the game and came away thinking the Knicks were better when he was off the floor though; I really implore you to watch the defense when he's on and off the floor more closely. Orlando was a jumpshooting team when Frank and Dot were out there as opposed to the interior scoring machine that appeared whenever that pair left the game.
Dot: Honestly, this one might be more egregious than anything else to me. Damyean Dotson is the official "glue guy" in my book. His statlines don't leap off the page but he's productive enough and he makes plays doing little things. Dot is the most likely player to cut baseline hard enough to create a momentary lane for an iso player, the most likely guard to keep a loose ball alive competing with a big man and the second best defender on the perimeter. In this one he only got 14 minutes and 3 points off with a turnover; but that belies the fact that our team defense was atrocious for most of the night and our offense ran through just three players. You don't need Dotson scoring 12 points if the touches are going to be massively unbalanced, but he'll be incredibly helpful to those guys by playing his role with intensity instead of ball watching. If the Knicks are going ISO heavy like they have recently, then Dot can be the three and D guy that our iso-scorers don't kick out to but rely on to clean up their poor rotations.
Fiz: This is a tough situation. Fiz gave Kanter 38 minutes and the guy was still making a scene on the bench and then on twitter after the game; what are you mad at Enes? The team is overloaded with one-way players who are also young and inconsistent. This means that Fiz might find Mudiay and Trier running like a dream in one game then showing zero cohesion the next. Noah Vonleh pairing with Kanter is still a pure experiment about how to cover for the center's lack of mobility and rim protection. Frank and Dot might make the defense work but if they combine for 3 points on 4 attempts in a 36 minutes span then they're as one-way as Enes. This is starting to become musical chairs where "keeping what you kill" seems more an allegory for staying on the floor if you're scoring. That's a bit scary to see as the defense moves further and further into the abyss; vets are visibly and vocally frustrated regardless of minutes or touches; and the youth shrinks away from roles they were embracing earlier. We're past the fifteen game mark and I still don't see clear roles for some of these guys, let alone a clear rotation emerging. That's to expected somewhat with a super young team that has a lack of star talent, but the fact that the picture is no clearer than it was in the preseason is getting worrisome.
Mudiay: Emmanuel Mudiay is really finding his comfort attacking the rack and his midrange pull-up game held firm for another night. That said, he continues to zero in on finishing at the expense of ball movement. This isn't just on him, the entire offense seems to be stagnating with very little off ball movement and one or two pass possessions dominating the scheme. Mudiay clocked 12 points on 5/8 shooting over 23 minutes adding 2 assists to 2 turnovers in that span. This was also one of his weaker defensive efforts best defined by the backdoor cut he gave up to PF Jonathon Isaac that sealed the game late in the fourth quarter. The Knicks third starting PG so far has been solid so far as a man to man defender but his help defense and awareness is still a notch below. He might skip into the passing lane once in awhile but he'll also miss a ton of nuances while he's on the weakside. That's not to pin the recent defense to Mudiay, but weakside rotations are at the heart of the team defense folding and Mudiay is one of many players that this has been an issue for. There's still serious promise if he can keep getting to the rim and finishing, but I'd like to see him add some more playmaking now. He got the ball moving in his first start, this time the ball movement was flat.
Hardaway: Hard to be mad at 9/20 from the field, 5/10 from three and 8/10 from the line out of Tim Hardaway. He's our lead scorer and played like one chipping in 32 points, 2 assists, 2 boards and 3 steals with just 1 TO out his 36 minute attack. Jr's becoming a serious headache for defenses in the pick and roll. He's got at scoring from all three levels as long as he gets a bit of space to operate. On defense there's promise in his ability to anticipate and skip into the passing lane for steals or jump i front of a slasher to draw charges; but when that anticipation short circuits he's liable to leave a Vucevic wide open for three because he's lined up too far away. In general, the whole anticipation defense is ripe for the picking as teams run more action and force more rotations. He's giving us a lot to look forward to though, when KP returns and he moves into a less ball dominant role with more space and less defensive attention. Fiz just has to make sure Timmy is letting his energy stay high even in defensive situations where he's not expecting to be attacked.
Knox: This was a bad game for Kevin Knox, who didn't get very consistent touches and was targeted by Orlando forwards as pick and roll ball handlers. Not many teams can do that consistently but Gordon and Isaac both attacked the youngster off the dribble. The weakside defense that I mentioned in the Mudiay bit stood out most of all when Knox was in these situations. He was giving up the step and nobody was rotating to contest his man. It was the kinda defensive help that will exacerbate things for an already struggling defender. Scoring wise, Knox managed just 2/8 from the field for 4 points and 2 boards in 23 minutes without getting much rhythm. His takes felt like "I need to make something happen with this possession" as much as anything which meant some poor decisions with the rock. The 2 rebounds at PF is also just too low a number as our second biggest guy on the floor by a wide margin when he starts. Knox can get himself some easy opportunities by attacking the offensive glass but the effort has come and gone periodically.
Trier: Allonzo Trier and Trey Burke are redundant pieces...that's been my theory since preseason. But I don't actually think Burke's success last night was the main source of Trier getting benched after just 13 minutes. Like others, Iso-Zo showed serious deficiencies on weak side rotations and unlike the others it's been a continuous flaw over the course of a few consecutive games. He went from communication issues with Hezonja to the same with Knox and Hardaway. This feels like rookie defense though, just a natural problem where rookies and young players stay way too attached to their own man when they should float closer to where the action is and cut off a lane. Offensively, honestly Zo was alright in limited looks. Allonzo went 2/5 for 7 points and 2 boards which is solid production for such a limited time out there and especially true when you look at the way FGA's were laid out. He's good enough offensively right now to get more opportunities but team defense is where he needs to solidify his game.
Mitch: It was hard to tell where Mitch's struggles last night really began. Vucevic has been a handful for everybody this season and everyone in a Knicks jersey dating back as far as I can remember. Mitch was also victimized by the rest of the team not make their rotations and his own overzealous attempts to make up for it. He can't help but bump a guy or try to attack a player with a lane. This all meant Mitch clocked 5 fouls in just 9 minutes for no points, 2 boards and just 1 steal. He never got a chance to impact the game although he did set more than enough screens to get at least a lob...
Kanter: Enes Kanter was about as good as you can ask for last night. He poured in 21 points, 19 boards and 3 assists along with more effort defensively than usual. Kanter was good scoring inside regardless of match-up and was on the only Knick having an impact on the boards. He also had moments like a block of Vucevic and some challenges on jump shooters that stood out mainly because Mike Breen made sure to shout out every instance. On the other hand, we still got moments where Kanter stuck to his man more tightly than even Allonzo Trier (who might I remind you is a rookie) and also there were 4 TO's mostly the result of offensive fouling. Kanter led the team with 38 minutes and came one board from a 20/20 night; but the Knicks got spanked for 14 points which is like a living, breathing embodiment of the "Kanter puts up empty stats" arguments. This was probably as good as you can hope for but it didn't translate to team success.
Burke: Trey Burke as the sixth man scorer looks more and more viable. He had another wildly efficient night that was lacking in playmaking for anyone else but hard to complain about due to his scoring. Trey I dropped 31 points off of 11/20 from the field and 8/10 from the free throw line; his three point shot was the only thing absent as he went 1/7 from range. The scoring is the player though; he tallied just 3 boards, 2 steals and 2 assists against 3 turnovers across the rest of his box score in 29 minutes. Like Kanter, this is probably near the peak of what you can ask for and in a few ways it was more promising. But Burke on the ball for 30 minutes comes with the caveat that he's not much in game management and his productivity is mainly retained in his ability to shoot pull up midrange jumpers or finish difficult lay-ups inside. Trey's in the right role as sixth man and I think it's becoming more apparent that the situations where you maximize his value are all circumstances where he's the first and second option to shoot.
Vonleh: Noah Vonleh saw a 35 minute night as Mitch couldn't stop fouling and Enes Kanter still needs spells for any defensive push. For the most part, he was solid in that time with 7 points, 9 boards, an assist and block with 2 turnovers as a blemish. That said, it stood out late when he wasn't able to win some important battles with the Vucevic/Isaac tandem on the glass and inside in general. He was 2/5 with one of his makes being an outlier 3 pointer. So Vonleh was legitimate mixed bag in this one...he gave plenty of good but with a mix of mistakes that took some of the luster off of the performance. I've got to admit though, I'm really intrigued at what a Vonleh/KP front court would look like. Vonleh adds the physicality and rebounding that KP sometimes lacks while the unicorn would stretch the floor to keep spacing strong. It could workout well.
Frank: The game looked like it would be lost in the first quarter until Frank Ntilikina and Damyean Dotson checked in to provide the only quality help defense that we would see all night. Frank's ability to impact the offense positively or negatively was mitigated almost entirely as Fiz pushed him off ball for all but a handful of possessions. The rock moved through Trey Burke almost exclusively and Frank was back to playing some minutes as the weak side forward along the baseline for a majority of his time. That's not an excuse though, Frank didn't make the sorts of cuts off the ball that might command a ball handler's attention to draw a pass. When Frank came up with rebounds, he found the PG which is usually a good thing but we've seen even Noah Vonleh take the rock up court himself. That might not be supportive of pace and Frank is usually making a generally wise play in getting it to the focal point of the offense; but you'd like to see him break away from the scheme and show some creativity...there's some flare and creativity to his PnR offense, but he rarely flashes that any other times offensively. Frank finished with just one missed attempt from the field in 22 minutes while rocking 2 assists, 2 boards and a steal. If you watched the game and came away thinking the Knicks were better when he was off the floor though; I really implore you to watch the defense when he's on and off the floor more closely. Orlando was a jumpshooting team when Frank and Dot were out there as opposed to the interior scoring machine that appeared whenever that pair left the game.
Dot: Honestly, this one might be more egregious than anything else to me. Damyean Dotson is the official "glue guy" in my book. His statlines don't leap off the page but he's productive enough and he makes plays doing little things. Dot is the most likely player to cut baseline hard enough to create a momentary lane for an iso player, the most likely guard to keep a loose ball alive competing with a big man and the second best defender on the perimeter. In this one he only got 14 minutes and 3 points off with a turnover; but that belies the fact that our team defense was atrocious for most of the night and our offense ran through just three players. You don't need Dotson scoring 12 points if the touches are going to be massively unbalanced, but he'll be incredibly helpful to those guys by playing his role with intensity instead of ball watching. If the Knicks are going ISO heavy like they have recently, then Dot can be the three and D guy that our iso-scorers don't kick out to but rely on to clean up their poor rotations.
Fiz: This is a tough situation. Fiz gave Kanter 38 minutes and the guy was still making a scene on the bench and then on twitter after the game; what are you mad at Enes? The team is overloaded with one-way players who are also young and inconsistent. This means that Fiz might find Mudiay and Trier running like a dream in one game then showing zero cohesion the next. Noah Vonleh pairing with Kanter is still a pure experiment about how to cover for the center's lack of mobility and rim protection. Frank and Dot might make the defense work but if they combine for 3 points on 4 attempts in a 36 minutes span then they're as one-way as Enes. This is starting to become musical chairs where "keeping what you kill" seems more an allegory for staying on the floor if you're scoring. That's a bit scary to see as the defense moves further and further into the abyss; vets are visibly and vocally frustrated regardless of minutes or touches; and the youth shrinks away from roles they were embracing earlier. We're past the fifteen game mark and I still don't see clear roles for some of these guys, let alone a clear rotation emerging. That's to expected somewhat with a super young team that has a lack of star talent, but the fact that the picture is no clearer than it was in the preseason is getting worrisome.
