Marc and Jay talk about the Knicks newest coach, Tom Thibodeau and give their thoughts on the hire, how it will effect the roster, development, defense, and culture
coach
Episode 500: The NBA is Back
Marc and Jay talk about the return of the NBA (minus the Knicks), the head coach candidates, what the 8 uninvited teams will do, and how the new schedule will effect next season
New York’s Offense and the Erasing of the Fizdale Effect
David Fizdale seen here mimicking everyone watching the game.
Written by: Austin Snyder
In order to fully understand the following jumble of words about America’s favorite target for uninformed sports opinions some backstory is needed. The enigma at the center of the story? David Fizdale (finally, a twist worthy of Stephen A. Smith). The general consensus about the Fizdale hiring from those who, like myself, actually pay attention to the Knicks is that Fizdale was brought in with the sole intention of being a lure for Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving and was probably never thought to be a solid choice to lead a team on a complete rebuild. So why does it matter?
Anyone who watched the Knicks with Fizdale at the helm would have been hard pressed not to notice the lack of an offensive system (or defensive one for that matter) under his guidance. Instead, the most valuable franchise in the NBA, worth an excess of four billion dollars, sported an offense reminiscent of watching my 7 year old nephew’s elementary school games on a nightly basis. No ball movement, no plays, and certainly no consistency. So why did Fiz ever get the job in the first place?
Episode 486: Goodbye Fizdale
Marc and Jay talk about Fizdale getting fired, Mike Miller as the new coach, the past weeks games, listener questions, and more
Episode 424: Welcome to New York David Fizdale
Marc and Jay give their thoughts on the David Fizdale hiring, and talk about round 2 of the playoffs
The Knicks Coaching Hunt
Even in the weaker Eastern Conference, the Knicks are already longshots to make the 2019 NBA playoffs. The team finished 14 games back of the postseason this year and are staring down the barrel of half a season without Kristaps Porzingis, who suffered a devastating ACL tear in February. There is some indication that Kristaps could be ready as early as December, but the more likely scenario is that the Knicks’ brass takes the safe route with their franchise player and holds him out until the New Year, or even the entire season, treating 2018-19 as another rebuilding season.
No matter which coach is brought in to replace Jeff Hornacek, he will struggle mightily to form a playoff contender out of the remaining pieces on this roster. The average figure on most sportsbooks currently have the Knicks at 7/3 (30% chance) to make the 2019 playoffs. Luckily before you put down any hard earned cash My Top Sportsbooks reviews can help in choosing which gambling site should be trusted, and with such a large selection chances are some are offering better odds than the 7/3 average.
The question is which route will the Knicks take. Right now it looks like the Knicks are interviewing a huge variety of different coaches (pretty much everyone except Jeff Van Gundy for some reason). So the question is what direction will the Knicks take? Will they go after the big name coach and try to use the little cap space they have to sign the biggest name free agent they can get (the usual route), or will they go after a coach more focused on development, build through the draft, and take their time trying to build a solid team from the ground up (I wouldn’t bet on that approach if I were you)? What is guaranteed is there is going to be a lot of turnover in the next few weeks and the usual offseason drama. Hopefully when the dust settles we will be able to see a plan and the Knicks will actually be moving towards that plan.
Who do you think will end up being the Knicks next coach?
Episode 422: The Search Continues
Marc and Jay talk about the coaching search, who’s been interviewed, who should be, and first round playoff talk
Episode 421: Coaching Search and Playoff Preview
Marc and Jay talk about the Hornacek firing, the coaching search, playoff preview, 10 minutes with a die hard Knicks fan, revisiting our preseason predictions
Heat, Mavs, Improvement?
Heat, Mavs, Improvement?
The Knicks moved to 19-21 this season after an encouraging win over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
Prior to the Dallas game, the Knicks threw away what would’ve been a great confidence boosting win in Miami, who’s victory was largely predicated on their willingness to shoot threes, and the Knicks’ reluctance to do the same.
The 107-103 loss in overtime to the Heat was a reminder for Knicks fans that despite a
promising start to the season, there is room for improvement on multiple fronts for the
team going forward. Much has been made over the improved defense and effort that passes the eye test when watching the team, but statistically, the game-plans have to
improve if the Knicks want to reach even the 8th seed in the playoff race this year.
Miami attempted 42 threes on Friday, but the Knicks only managed 13 attempts – this
disparity further highlighted by the fact that the Knicks didn’t make a single 3 pointer until the 3rd quarter. Of course, attempting a low number of threes would be excusable if the team was having an off night – there’s no use chucking threes just for the sake of it. However, the Knicks hit 5 threes on Friday, shooting a good 38.5% as opposed to the Heat who shot 28.5% (12/42).
We all know that the Knicks have struggled mightily in defending the 3 point line this
season, in fact, it’s probably the most frustrating part of watching the team so far. Given that for the most part the effort on defense has been great, the Knicks’ players are doing themselves a disservice by giving them up.
A more detailed study of the Heat game, undertaken by reddit user /u/zounderk1te (1) , shows that the team suffers from multiple individual errors when on defense; this is compounded by the fact that the team has to constantly help on defense to contain opposition players who are allowed to drive to the rim far too easily.
Despite KP’s recent ‘tired’ comments, there is a real case for him moving to the 5 once he can hang physically with NBA big men down low. KP frequently doesn’t contest 3 pointers when guarding stretch 4’s, and there’s no doubt he’s best defensively as a rim protector, closer to the basket.
Anyone who has watched the Knicks this year will tell you that the team appears to flat out refuse to box out sometimes, instead ball watching and allowing easy offensive rebounds as well as long rebounds which lead to easy threes for the other team. Truthfully, it’s hard to say whether this is solely a coaching issue, or because of the inexperience of the team’s young players, but regardless it’s killing the Knicks especially down the stretch in close games.
Episode 339: Finals, coaching, and assaults
Marc and Jay talk about the finals, things to look for with our new coach, overall strategy going forward, free agents, and more
The New York Knicks Podcast 