Put Some Hornacek On Our Game: 2016 New York Knicks Offseason Thread

[Victim of Racism]

 

[Victim of Racism]

 

[Ironman]

NY's offense was much better in December than in November (45% vs. 41% fg and 93 ppg vs. 99 ppg), but the defense was much worse (42% vs. 44.6% opp fg and 97 opp ppg vs. 100 opp ppg). There's no doubt in my mind that it's because O'Quinn and D-will got more minutes (11 mpg each vs. 16 and 15 mpg). Here's the baffling part: their record was much better (6-9 vs. 7-8). So, I don't know whether to be encouraged that their offense and record improved over that span, or to be discouraged that their defense has plummeted so deeply over that span. Are y'all encouraged or discouraged by this and why?

Quinn and D Will are not the reasons the defense has been bad. The team in general sucked and Afflalo and the other guards were getting burned by others and the team gave up leads in quite a few games too.

 

[KnickstapeCity]

http://www.thecoli.com/threads/porzingis-named-rookie-of-the-month-for-december-wow.388045/

 

[Derek Lee]

:mjlolk1:

 

[KnickstapeCity]

:mjlolk1:

 

[Victim of Racism]

Quinn and D Will are not the reasons the defense has been bad. The team in general sucked and Afflalo and the other guards were getting burned by others and the team gave up leads in quite a few games too.

I didn't say they're the reason it's been bad.They're the reason it's gotten worse. Stats show the worse defenders (in order) in December were Sasha, Jose, Grant, Kyle, and Arron. D-Will has only been marginally bad. Stats don't say this, but KP has been bad too, which led to him getting benched in the Detroit game because Ilyasova was hitting shot after shot against him. It's true that several players were bad last month, but the defense as a whole wouldn't have been nearly as bad if Derek hadn't increased the minutes of 2 of NY's worst defenders. Problem is, as I said, the offense likely wouldn't have improved as much either. 'Melo shooting better (44.4% vs. 41%) also has a lot to do with the offense improving because he was the main one dragging it down.

 

[storyteller]

NY's offense was much better in December than in November (45% vs. 41% fg and 99 ppg vs. 93 ppg), but the defense was much worse (44.6% vs. 42% opp fg and 100 opp ppg vs. 97 opp ppg). There's no doubt in my mind that it's because O'Quinn and D-will got more minutes (11 mpg each vs. 16 and 15 mpg). Here's the baffling part: their record was much better (6-9 vs. 7-8). So, I don't know whether to be encouraged that their offense and record improved over that span, or to be discouraged that their defense has plummeted so deeply over that span. Are y'all encouraged or discouraged by this and why?

Haven't tracked it but what's the trend on TO's and transition rate? I know in at least a handful of games I've noted that TO's were up and fast break points are one of the easiest ways to pump up those FG% and ppg numbers. Any time Kyle is at the 4 we're in trouble and our more reliable guys seemed to lose a step (not that they've been bad but they're no longer hiding the holes we have defensively). I wouldn't put this on D-Will though, he's been better in the other facets lately with this run (chasing boards, running the floor and playing some half decent defense with less lapses).

As for where I'd noted some problems in the defensive schemes, the switching to cut three pointers got taken advantage of to create mismatches a lot more lately with new scouting reports. Communication was down but also probably the most visible improvement yesterday. It also felt like more often than not of late, the defense has gravitated closer to the paint on slashers which opens up three pointers (could be a result of smaller line-ups with guys that are used to chasing and expect to recover). This would mean that Jose's typical play in the defense is to go over the screen and ride the defender into RoLo who is deep enough to rim protect but also recover to his big...but if AA drops off his man as well, the whole defensive balance drops (insert any names there, I just chose three starters for the example). Yesterday, just off of RoLo telling people where to be, the team was in better position to stop a lot of that crap and I noted Jose, Galloway, Melo and Lance all communicating to resolve poor switching match-ups as well...that's encouraging to me. Because the defensive flaws can be fixed without changing personnel much if at all.

 

[K-ZOE]

NY's offense was much better in December than in November (45% vs. 41% fg and 99 ppg vs. 93 ppg), but the defense was much worse (42% vs. 44.6% opp fg and 97 opp ppg vs. 100 opp ppg). There's no doubt in my mind that it's because O'Quinn and D-will got more minutes (11 mpg each vs. 16 and 15 mpg). Here's the baffling part: their record was much better (7-8 vs. 6-9). So, I don't know whether to be encouraged that their offense and record improved over that span, or to be discouraged that their defense has plummeted so deeply over that span. Are y'all encouraged or discouraged by this and why?

Sometimes you may hear someone like an announcer or somebody say something like, "His impact doesn't show up on the stat sheet". Do you believe in that? I ask because if they gave up more points and opponents shot better...but they had a better record....maybe there are other factors to consider. Like how much rest they got between games as opposed to November and December? How many teams they caught on a back to back? How many back to backs did we have? Did everybody we played in Nov and Dec have their full compliment of rosters? IMO I think there's so much more that could be in play before pointing to an increase in minutes for DWill and KOQ for worse defense. But yeah do you think a players (and by extension, a team) worth can only be measured statistically or do you value intangibles?

 

[nomoreneveragain]

 

[Victim of Racism]

Haven't tracked it but what's the trend on TO's and transition rate? I know in at least a handful of games I've noted that TO's were up and fast break points are one of the easiest ways to pump up those FG% and ppg numbers. Any time Kyle is at the 4 we're in trouble and our more reliable guys seemed to lose a step (not that they've been bad but they're no longer hiding the holes we have defensively). I wouldn't put this on D-Will though, he's been better in the other facets lately with this run (chasing boards, running the floor and playing some half decent defense with less lapses).

As for where I'd noted some problems in the defensive schemes, the switching to cut three pointers got taken advantage of to create mismatches a lot more lately with new scouting reports. Communication was down but also probably the most visible improvement yesterday. It also felt like more often than not of late, the defense has gravitated closer to the paint on slashers which opens up three pointers (could be a result of smaller line-ups with guys that are used to chasing and expect to recover). This would mean that Jose's typical play in the defense is to go over the screen and ride the defender into RoLo who is deep enough to rim protect but also recover to his big...but if AA drops off his man as well, the whole defensive balance drops (insert any names there, I just chose three starters for the example). Yesterday, just off of RoLo telling people where to be, the team was in better position to stop a lot of that crap and I noted Jose, Galloway, Melo and Lance all communicating to resolve poor switching match-ups as well...that's encouraging to me. Because the defensive flaws can be fixed without changing personnel much if at all.

Tpg up 0.8 pg, fbps up 4.2 pg. Lance was huge for NY. He was their 4th leading scorer (12 ppg on 52% from the field).

3-point defense down 4% but still very solid at 32.1%, rebounding was down: 2 less orpg, drpg didn't change, and total rpg was down by 1.

 

[Victim of Racism]

Sometimes you may hear someone like an announcer or somebody say something like, "His impact doesn't show up on the stat sheet". Do you believe in that? I ask because if they gave up more points and opponents shot better...but they had a better record....maybe there are other factors to consider. Like how much rest they got between games as opposed to November and December? How many teams they caught on a back to back? How many back to backs did we have? Did everybody we played in Nov and Dec have their full compliment of rosters? IMO I think there's so much more that could be in play before pointing to an increase in minutes for DWill and KOQ for worse defense. But yeah do you think a players (and by extension, a team) worth can only be measured statistically or do you value intangibles?

Which player are you referring to as far as value not showing in the stat sheet, O'Quinn?

They got more rest in December (not nearly as many back-to-backs and 4 games in 5 nights stretches as in November), and in that case, you would expect the defense to be better, but it was worse.

I do value intangibles. However, stats don't only make players look worse, they also make them look better. Stats say some people are good defenders, but the film shows they clearly aren't (Lebron, Curry, and Harden come to mind).

I will say that there seems to be a focus on me mentioning D-Will's and O'Quinn's negative impact on NY's defense, but I also emphasized how positive of an impact they've had on NY's offense (which has been NY's biggest issue). I'm not a fan of just trying to outscore teams, but NY's record has been much better with improved offense. I like D-Will and O'Quinn whether NY's record is good or not because those 2 are shot-makers (which NY needs in the worst way) and O'Quinn is a great rebounder. So, I don't want to be misunderstood as saying I want them benched. I actually wish Derek would play them 35 mpg.

 

[Victim of Racism]

 

[Victim of Racism]

Seems like the league is getting a little get-back on 'Melo for putting them on blast for letting players pound him without any calls. His drives to the basket are up, but his free throw attempts are down. Seems like they were gonna increase the calls for a few games, then treat him worse than ever before.

 

[onelastdeath]

I love Melo man