Knicks forward RJ Barrett has gone from bust to boom in the past two games, Peter Botte of the New York Post points out. Barrett shot 6-for-25 from the field in the first two games of the first-round series against the Cavaliers. He has gone 17-for-30 in the last two games, averaging 23.5 points per contest.
“I just wanted to continue to make the right plays, make the right reads. Just do whatever to help the team,” said Barrett, who will begin his four-year, $107MM extension in 2023/24.
We have more on the Knicks:
- The moves the Knicks made during the offseason and at the trade deadline have put them in a position to reach the second round, Ian Begley of SNY TV writes. They signed Jalen Brunson instead of trading for Donovan Mitchell, signed Barrett to his extension and re-signed big man Mitchell Robinson. They also added Isaiah Hartenstein via free agency and acquired Josh Hart from Portland in February.
- Brunson is running pick-and-rolls with wings and other guards such as Barrett to great effect during the postseason, Fred Katz of The Athletic notes. Their defense is also much more intense, particularly in transition. “We’re playing extremely hard,” Barrett said. “We’re making hustle plays. … The whole team, all the hustle plays we’re making, we’re really together collectively.”
- The center rotation of Robinson and Hartenstein became increasingly effective as the regular season wore on, coach Tom Thibodeau told Botte and other media members. “That tandem, from the second half of the season on, Mitch is the anchor of the defense. Isaiah gives us the rim protection and he’s different offensively,” Thibodeau said. “So there’s different components to it.” They combined for 13 points, 19 rebounds and four blocked shots in Game 4 on Sunday.
- Thibodeau’s willingness to bench gimpy Julius Randle for a good portion of the second half is an example of how much the veteran coach has changed his approach, Mark W. Sanchez of the New York Post opines. Thibodeau has become much more willing to rely on younger players and his second unit, rather than leaning too heavily on veterans.
Thibs’ willingness to rely on younger players and expand his rotation has helped this Knicks team tremendously.
Still though, very rarely does a team have the chance to acquire EXACTLY what their team needs, and that was Brunson.
It was clear even before he was a free agent he was the perfect fit for the Knicks, and it has been a seamless transition since he’s come aboard.
The Knicks are lucky that Dallas was so inept in their roster management. Dallas got greedy, and clearly didn’t give Brunson the respect and credit he deserved for helping lift their team.
Their loss has been the Knicks gain, and it is why the Knicks are only going to continue getting better..
Agreed. And to add on to your point, obtaining Hart was another “exactly” what they need. His energy lights up the rest of the team. Mitchell looks exhausted out there when he’s being guarded by a physical Brunson, and then waves of in your face between Grimes, IQ, Hart, and McBride.
And the offensive rebounding is insane. Robinson and Hart just adding more converted opportunities.
Now, Dallas is stuck forced to give Kyrie basically whatever he wants. Not only are they going to have to overpay to keep Kyrie, now they’re also going to have to try and refill the holes they created themselves in trading for Kyrie in the first place. Talk about going backwards..lol
I have to think they won’t have alot of money left after that, and they are still going to have to find at least a couple solid wings, and some better overall depth for their roster as well…
Maybe they can figure it all out, but it certainly seems like this is a HUGE step backwards from just a year ago…
If I’m not even a Mavs fan, and I’m disappointed in their decisions, I cannot even begin to imagine how Luka feels..
Kyrie is better than Brunson. The cast around them is not good. They have a lot of work to do to put a competent team around Luka and Kyrie.
Using the 23 pick to move a contract is the first way they’ll be able to do so.
They were 8-12 with Kyrie opposed to going to the WCF with Brunson.
How’d the Knicks start the season? Not so hot. It takes time for a team to integrate two starters like Kyrie and Luka. Rarely does it click immediately. I am sure they will figure things out next year and would expect they make the playoffs of the strengths of those two alone (assuming they play regularly). How far they can go is another story which will depend on how they fix the holes they created to get Kyrie.
Kyrie may be the better basketball player overall but Brunson is the better point guard. Better decision maker. Better at his teammates involved. And better leader.
I’ll take Brunson over Kyrie all day.
Kyrie has too much baggage, plays no D and isn’t a team guy … he’s a Kyrie guy. Never know if he’s committed to your team or not. He’s more talented of course, but at this stage I think any franchise in the NBA would rather have Brunson.
I wouldn’t feel too bad for them. I think that Luka and Kyrie can figure things out given a full season of playing together.
The point is Kyrie is a UFA so they are buying into a could be scenario for many millions of dollars and many years.
Sure he MAY figure things out with Luka. But he hasn’t so far.
“They signed Jalen Brunson instead of trading for Donovan Mitchell,”
I believe the fan wisdom at the time was that the Knicks would acquire both of them, not either/or. I don’t know what the Knicks would have traded to get Donovan (some combination or RJ, Grimes, or Robinson plus a bunch of picks), but so far, not trading for Donovan has worked well. A backcourt of Brunson and Donovan Mitchell would have been great offensively but pretty bad on defense.
Watching Mitchell close his eyes and taking deep breathes before the first game at the Garden…priceless.
I advocated for acquiring Mitchell, but not at the rumored cost. And looking at the team today, not sure if it would’ve been successful considering all the mouths to feed on offense. Would Brunson be the Brunson we know today? Lots of ‘if’ questions, but liking what I see from the team.
And surprisingly, like what I’m seeing from Thibs. Maybe he’s turned a corner, but love the fact he’s putting McBride in there and letting OB1 play out the game at the end. His use of the bench (and IQ being nominated for 6th man) attests to his change in use of players. Fresh players amp up his defense. It’s a win-win and we’re seeing it in this series.
@padam: totally agree. Early on in the season, I thought they should consider firing Thibs. But he’s learned and changed as a coach as the season has gone on. He still has a the occasional time where he will ride a guy for too long, but overall his rotations have been nice and he’s doing his best coaching right now.
Whether or not his benching of Randle in the fourth quarter was related to Randle’s injury or performance, I don’t know. But it was refreshing to see Thibs roll with Toppin in crunch time.
He still rode Randle at the end of the season, and can’t exactly blame him based on how Randle was playing. Not sure he’s at fault for riding Brunson though – Brunson seems to always wanting to stay in.
I think the lineup/rotation/playtime changes were drilled in by the front office. He still didn’t play Obi enough, but hard to play him with Randle, and hard to sit Randle for 20 minutes a game.
Agreed. I thought the same, but his in game management has been decent as well.
That’s true but if they didn’t get Brunson, they probably would have made the Mitchell deal
Glad RJ is playing well but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The reason he is so frustrating is because this is how you expect him to play all the time.
Trade RJ for Beal?
I’d be good with that.
Washington would want more. IQ too
Washington would also like to get rid of the contract and get younger. If I were Washington, I’d be looking at IQ and Grimes and hope I can squeeze out OB1 or draft picks. They’d get a backcourt to compliment the players up front, provided they sign them.
The one thing I’ve seen flashes of in the knicks series is Robinson can dominate. If they ran plays for him he’d get 15/15 every night. Rj is coming along , no need to trade him , obi needs to be let lose!!!
They do run plays for him. They miss the shot, he rebounds and puts it in. There’s some sarcasm there, but some truth as well. If he wants to score, he’s going to have to board, which he does so well. He’s beginning to look like Rodman on the boards where he tips it to himself rather than trying to grab what may not be possible.
Brunson was signed right after the FA moratorium, which was long before DM became available. One can question the fit of the two together, but the fact is that NYK, with Brunson signed, did about everything they could to get to a serious stage with UTH over DM. Luckily for the NYK, UTH chose to pull away and then not circle back.
I don’t say luckily as an indictment of DM individually, or even of the specific fit with just Brunson. Just overall, there’s little chance the team would have come together along the lines it did, around Brunson and Randle as the primary offensive options. DM would have been the sole first option from the start, with a very different group trying to fit around that. Even the NYK formulation of the deal would have dealt away Barrett or Grimes (UTH wanted both), along with IQ and Toppin, along with the 6 FRPs and 2 swaps (it was mostly the pick protection that was the issue, not the number of picks). So, Hart likely wouldn’t be here eitiher. Very different team. Can’t say better or worse, but I like the long term upside of the one we have more.