The Knicks are respectable at their peak, but that’s faint praise. (Photo: Andy Marlin – USA TODAY Sports)
By Adam Spinella
Follow @Spinella14
Amidst a glut of 10 Eastern Conference foes jockeying for position, let’s take a step back and recognize: the New York Knicks are fun again! Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis are carrying the scoring load. Derrick Rose gets to the rim at will and is a whirlwind in transition. The always effervescent Clyde Frazier colors commentary with the most delightful and verbose enthusiasm, while Mike Breen adds his catchphrase “bang” on an increasing number of made 3-pointers. It’s actually fun to watch the Knicks again!
The amalgamation of talent in the Big Apple is not the only fun reason to watch Phil Jackson’s latest experiment – the Knicks are good, too. They have one of the best home records in the league and are parlaying that towards a postseason run. Consider this: the Knicks are one and a half games out of the three seed in the East, while also only three games ahead of the 12th-best record in the conference at Christmas. They have a winning record against the West, and only played one game against Brooklyn and Philadelphia, two division foes with the worst records in the East that are on the schedule seven times before the season ends.
Looming larger their current jockeying for position in the East are struggles on this roster and within the organization. Phil Jackson, the 11-time NBA Champion coach, has sought to build this organization in the mold of some of his title teams of decades past. The Triangle Offense, Jackson’s lifeblood for nearly 30 years, has been at the center of this scrutiny. In essence, by hiring Jeff Hornacek, Jackson risked compromising his long-held beliefs in order to keep up with the rest of the league. How much Jackson actually planned on compromising, we’ll never know.
Jackson still favors a Triangle Offense designed to create fewer 3-pointers and a slower pace of play. Yet, as Knicks President he’s built a roster that fits a more open style of play. Derrick Rose thrives in transition, Noah makes a living in the ugliest of situations, and Porzingis is becoming unstoppable in the pick-and-pop. Hornacek has sought to speed up the pace this season: a nearly eight-point per game increase in scoring from last season has parlayed the Knicks up the standings. The anti-Triangle is working.
Jackson’s initial vision of building the Triangle around Carmelo continues to be a defensible one. The beauty of the Triangle, when featuring a star player and go-to scorer, is that the ball can find the hands of that star in different spots on the floor — the wing, the low post or the high post. Defenses have an incredibly difficult time predicting where to double team from, so Anthony would have more space and time to make his moves happen as a scorer. The roster, when the early-Jackson Knicks were running exclusively Triangle, featured too little talent to support a winning culture when built around Carmelo.
To solve the second issue, Jackson turned the first into the current dilemma. Derrick Rose, a former MVP that arguably is worth the gamble Phil took in acquiring him, thrives in ball screens, transition and a less-structured environment. Hornacek has always refused to run a purely Triangle offense, saying his team’s offense involves “aspects” of the Triangle within it. He’s held true on that claim, but the combination of slow-down Triangle and up-tempo, space-the-floor brand that Hornacek favors are so distinctly different that it’s hard to tell who the Knicks want to be.
As the young season has evolved, two trends have emerged for these Knicks: heavier reliance on Porzingis within the offense, and a lesser frequency of Triangle sets. Correlation or causation discussion aside, the results of this are clear. Since Porzingis saw an increase in touches starting on on Nov. 14, the Knicks are 13-8. Before that date? 3-6. Now, Porzingis leads the pairing in touches per game, according to NBA.com.
The current jumble of plays has been a blend of the Triangle with a pick-and-pop, spacing-heavy offense revolving around a green light for Rose, Anthony or Porzingis to bully their way to the hoop. Nothing feels like it is creative, relying on the most vanilla actions to generate these points. Slow-developing isolations, standard walked-into ball screens. Essentially, there’s no misdirection, and no emphasis on hurting defenses before the action occurs. The Knicks’ adjustments thus far are a band-aid on an archaic offensive scheme, not the panacea for the illness.
The type of offense they build in its place will be the true definition of how this roster’s trajectory will unfold.
Hornacek has still allowed the Knicks to run more isolations than all but a handful of teams this season, with Carmelo Anthony still leading the pack in that regard. The Knicks have the personnel to demand double-teams and score on a high enough percentage of touches that are iso-driven.
When Melo catches the ball in the low post in the Triangle, he usually has two cutters that clear from the strong side to the weak side, which gives him about two or three seconds before he can face-up to the basket. Anthony is a talented passer, but his speed of decision-making almost cost the Knicks a game against the Hornets when he missed a wide open Porzingis under the basket and instead isolated against one of the league’s best individual defenders in Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.
Hornacek knew Melo’s tendencies needed to be combated and has adjusted their movement off a post isolation. He’s since copied the Golden State Warriors and sped things up by mixing in an X-action into their “post option” movement, giving them some pattern for movement when the ball goes into the post. With X-action, a screen and cut occurs above the post (also known as a high post split), and Porzingis thrives popping out to the perimeter after setting a screen. Porzingis is a unique threat that can not only set perimeter screens, but be a threat coming off one. The Knicks will set them farther away from the ball too, up a spot from the corner and the wing, in order to get Porzingis closer to his comfort zone at the top of the key and to further eliminate a double-team on the ball in the post.
Increasing the utility of Kristaps within the offense doesn’t have to be done at the expense of Melo, or mean his touches in the pinch post disappear. Putting Anthony in the post one-on-one, with Porzingis spaced around him, is the Knicks’ best way to maximize both. Anthony and Porzingis in a ball screen in the pinch post…. I don’t really know how to defend this.
While Anthony currently leads the team in scoring, Porzingis has proven to be the rare offensive talent who is incredibly difficult to guard. By Christmas, he stands at 64 made 3-pointers, more than the likes of Melo (59), Kevin Durant (60), Kyle Korver (53) or any player standing above seven-feet tall. He’s shooting the same percentage from three as Stephen Curry and is one of five players in the league with at least 50 made threes and 50 offensive rebounds. He’s also currently top 10 in the league in blocked shots (57) and field goal defense at the rim (40.6 percent), making massive strides defensively from his rookie campaign. It’s time to let Porzingis fly where he’s most comfortable and effective, and see what he’s made of as an alpha dog.
Discovering that Porzingis is almost unstoppable in the pick-and-pop isn’t as much of a revelation as it is a commitment to its usage. He is crafted to dilute any type of screen-and-roll defense thrown at the Knicks, a style of basketball Jackson has avoided in his legendary coaching career. Ball screen defense is also more savvy than it was when Jackson coached less than a decade ago; the combination of length on the perimeter, small-ball lineups that trap screens and the prevalence of “ice” defenses cause coaches to think twice before building a scheme around constant ball screens. Undoubtedly those defensive advances make Jackson nervous. The union between Porzingis and Phil is like a vegan marrying a world-renowned steakhouse chef.
When opposing defenses run “ice,” Porzingis simply pops backward and lets the 3-pointers fly without hesitation. Few shooters are more talented than Porzingis at knocking down a three while their momentum is carrying them farther from the basket. It’s also an easy read for the point guard on an empty side pick-and-roll, where the second you see two defenders converging, the open man is always your screener.
Pick-and-pop on the wing isn’t easy to defend in its own right; the Knicks will set it frequently with Porzingis leading his man to the baseline so he can pop to the top of the key and have plenty of space to catch and shoot. The more traditional side ball screen, leading the ball handler to the middle of the floor, is where Porzingis will most frequently roll to the hoop. Often you can see him casually strolling to the rim on a delayed roll, somehow sneaking behind defenses despite being 7’3″.
Porzingis has quickly become adept at forcing a switch in a ball screen scenario, where he can feast on a matchup with players often more than a foot shorter than him. For the most obvious reasons, all four other defenders have to be attune to Porzingis in the post, and tend to over-help. When Porzingis feels the eyes of all five defenders on him, he has no problem kicking out to open shooters on the perimeter. The guy can still see over every player on the court!
The middle pick-and-pop is just as difficult to defend, because defenses are not going to go flying at the top of the key to challenge shot. There’s no certainty as to which side of the floor the help defense comes from, especially when the ball handler can snake his way around the screen. Watch below as Rose snakes beneath Porzingis but on top of Gorgui Dieng to wrap both of them and commit both to guarding the ball — Zinger is the only player above the free throw line, and there’s no chance any help defender could recognize the help in time, let alone get there.
For a non-shooter like Derrick Rose, playing with Porzingis is exactly what the doctor ordered. Sharing the court with a pick-and-pop threat that opens up more driving lanes could be key to his revitalization. Rose looks lost when having to move and screen without the ball, as he always has when there’s some choice as to where to cut. He’s a dreadful shooter who cannot space the floor, and still falls into the trap of leaving his feet before knowing definitively where to pass the rock. The pick-and-pop opens up that spacing, puts the ball in his hands more often and makes his reads easier when he sucks the defense with his full-speed-ahead mentality.
It’s not just Rose who benefits from the shift in half-court offense, either. Since the switch, Carmelo Anthony has seen an increase in attempts, a higher assist rate and a better 3-point percentage than he had at the start of the season. Anthony is still the team’s leading scorer and the offense is run through him. Lessening the burden on the 32-year-old is nothing but a positive for a team with postseason aspirations. Whether Carmelo could accept a lesser role is a different question.
The Knicks’ offense, and their overall increase in success, occurs in spite of their “prized” summer signing of center Joakim Noah. It’s not just rust, injuries or a new scheme that Noah is struggling to adjust to. He looks a step slow, has seen the biggest regression in free throw shooting known to mankind, and has missed more layups than any NBA player I’ve ever seen. Three years ago he was First-Team All-NBA. Now it’s hard to justify playing him more than a few minutes a night. The Knicks will have a tough time progressing their franchise and making moves to bolster their team if Noah doesn’t shake off a poor start and become more than a dead weight contract.
Coming into this season, the Knicks’ starters seemed to be their saving grace and their biggest asset. While the group has been solid, it’s started to gel as of late, fueled by a fairly strong bout of health thus far in the season. The player to miss the most time, Derrick Rose, has showed the team’s crippling weakness: their lack of depth. The Knicks are 1-3 without Rose, with all three losses by double-digits.
New York’s bench has very few pieces. Justin Holiday and Kyle O’Quinn are very good role players, though would struggle in anything beyond 20 minutes a night. Brandon Jennings gives the Knicks a change of pace off the bench, but has not been consistent in any expanded role. In those four games without Rose, Jennings is shooting a mere 37 percent from the field, with a plus-minus of -9.5 and countless defensive miscues in the half-court. The next man up behind Jennings? Undrafted rookie Ron Baker, who has played admirably but is clearly not ready to log meaningful minutes. The trickle-down of one injury is what kills them most.
A lack of good guards off the bench ties Hornacek’s hands when it comes to lineup creativity in a league where small-ball is coveted. The often mentioned Melo-Porzingis combination at the 4 and 5 is not happening, according to Hornacek. New York’s strength on their bench comes from O’Quinn, and squeezing him or Noah out of the rotation doesn’t seem feasible. While it would be a dream offensively, preventing Porzingis and Anthony from sharing the court for long stretches helps their already putrid defense avoid the league’s basement.
Porzingis is actually better-suited defensively at the 4; a good amount of his blocked shots occur on the ball, where he features his extreme length and surprisingly spry footwork. He also has a tendency to stay lane protected and no-hedge ball screens; the physicality of guarding the 5 throughout the season could take its toll on the youngster, and he’s better using his length to bait opposing guards to drive at him off a screen and effortlessly swat their shot by sticking out his arm.
To press tempo while playing two big men, Hornacek has rolled his sleeves up and instituted more full-court pressure than most NBA teams are accustom to seeing. Brandon Jennings has been relentless against opposing ball-handlers, pressuring them 94 feet when he gets the opportunity. Even Joakim Noah has gotten into the action, occasionally double-teaming off the inbounder and trying to force an opponent to burn a timeout or throw a careless pass. Of course, when Jennings is forced to play major minutes due to a D-Rose injury, that tactic is harder to utilize since Jennings is counted on for upwards of 30 minutes a night.
This early season success isn’t new to Jackson’s teams in the Big Apple; the Knicks were 22-22 under Fisher to start last season before things went south. Hornacek and company have a lot to clean up if they want to make a true playoff push. Team defense has been putrid this season. The offense, when moved away from the Triangle, has very little activity away from the ball, and distinguishing when they run the Triangle and when they run spread pick-and-roll is not a challenge for opponents since they’re so different.
As we approach the third-of-the-season mark, the band-aid the Knicks have placed on their issues still has some adhesive left on it. The time is coming to rip it off and see the skin beneath. The decision facing Phil is one that could force him to swallow his pride, abandon the Triangle altogether and attempt to alter this roster to maximize the talent they have.
The man who constructed this roster shoulders the responsibility for solving the issues he’s created. Assessing Jackson’s tenure thus far, with hopes of predicting the next logical move, reveals a murky and questionable trail of decision. Hiring Derek Fisher, a seemingly well-respected leader with a genuine coaching pedigree, as his first coach was a horrid mishap from the start. Fisher did Jackson’s bidding by being committed to the Triangle, but lost traction within the locker room and couldn’t figure out how to balance Jackson’s classical desires with the need for modernization.
Jackson replaced D-Fish with Jeff Hornacek, perhaps the most un-Triangle coach on the market, and has publicly maintained an expectation of running the same offense. He has griped about Hornacek’s vision for the team’s offense — strange for a man who has ultimate hiring power and brought in Hornacek just six months ago. It’s not like Hornacek was hired for his defensive acumen either; his three full seasons as the Suns head coach saw his teams defensive rating end up 15th, 17th and 25th in the league. Jackson insisted on keeping Kurt Rambis on staff, who is now the de facto defensive coordinator. In Rambis’ time as a head coach, his teams never finished higher than 27th in defensive rating. Their current defense is a mess, and playing the blame game often delays finding the solution (this is precisely why most organizations are weary of having too many cooks in the kitchen).
Zen Master Phil came in 30 months ago with a desire to dump salary and recreate his Lakers’ triangle days right away to help teach the style and theory. A consequence is now a roster without youth that helps lay the foundation for a rebuilding franchise. Draft picks Jerian Grant and Cleanthony Early are no longer on this roster, while the youngsters he inherited like Iman Shumpert and Tim Hardaway Jr. have all been dealt elsewhere. The loot for these youngsters? A watered-down version of Derrick Rose, coming off several seasons of debilitating knee injuries, and the cap space to bring in the underwhelming Joakim Noah.
Jackson has a few successes to his credit, Kristaps Porzingis being the most glaring. Jackson drafted the 7-foot-3 basketball unicorn in the face of criticism, and has helped quickly develop Porzingis into one of the most mystifying young players in the league. Despite the ups and downs since Jackson took over in April 2014, the horizon is bright and filled with hope for this franchise — almost entirely due to Porzingis.
All this Jackson discussion comes without mentioning the team’s current star, Carmelo Anthony, whom Phil has seemingly sought to build a contender around. Stumbling upon Unicorn Porzingis can change plans for the future, though Jackson continues to meander around the playoff picture with a past-prime cast of Noah, Rose and Melo next to the unicorn kid. Despite that commitment, Jackson has a relationship with Melo that is not quite fractured, but most definitely punctured. The comments regarding LeBron James and his “posse” were poorly received by Anthony. This comes after years of urging Anthony to buy into Jackson’s methods, be less selfish and not demand a trade.
Could it be that Jackson is working to undo his commitment to Anthony in the Zen Master, Yoda mind games way he approaches these confrontations? The cupboard is bare in New York, with no 2017 first-round pick and little cap relief on the way within the next eighteen months before Porzingis is due his first big payday. Trading Anthony, the one holdover from the pre-Jackson era and the superstar he’s said to want to protect, could be the only way to restock the diminished assets these Knicks lack. In order for this to happen, Anthony would have to waive his no-trade clause, something Jackson has longed him not to. The irony here should not be lost.
Expecting the Knicks to ditch a post-based approach in favor of the Porzingis pick-and-pop is grossly underestimating Carmelo Anthony’s scoring acumen and Phil Jackson’s stubborn reliance on what brought him to the dance. Melo is still a top-10 scorer in this league, and as long as the Knicks have him, they’re best served trying to placate both their old and rising stars. A roster with Melo and Porzingis, as well as the surrounding pieces they currently have, doesn’t fit the exact same style of play. Their successful start to the year doesn’t seem to be fool’s gold — it also appears to be close to this team’s ceiling than any Knick would like.
This is not to say the Knicks cannot win now, or try to win with both players. Trying to progress as a franchise with a future superstar is difficult in its own right. Playing woeful defense and in-between to drastically different styles on offense doesn’t ease that burden. We’re only 30 months away from Porzingis being due a massive pay day. The Knicks may not even be “his” team by that point, and that’s the scariest thought of all.
More New York Knicks articles
Thursday TNT Breakdown: Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks
December 15, 2016
(0) Comments
Weighing in on Kristaps Porzingis vs. Karl-Anthony Towns
December 01, 2016
(0) Comments
From the Coaches Seat
Warriors figuring out their new defense – Guess who leads the league in blocked shots… the Warriors! That’s right, the team that traded their rim protector for a guy named Zaza and play a 6’8″ stocky wing at center for long stretches lead the league in blocks, as well as steals. How? The Warriors are adjusting well to their switching scheme, and Kevin Durant has been other-worldly as an on-ball defender, using his length to bother just about anybody that dares to shoot over his Gumby-like arms.
Durant also has the ability to cover an obscene amount of ground in a millisecond, making him a dangerous threat as a weak-side shot blocker. Within a switching scheme, players that try to score with their back to the basket must scan the floor for where Durant is, as he could be defending literally anywhere on the perimeter. Durant seems to love making these leaping swats, and his timing is impeccable.
By no means are the Warriors perfect on defense at this juncture, but with increased perimeter pressure and Durant’s weak-side shot blocking, the Dubs are still getting enough stops to create early transition opportunities. The next item to clean up: offensive rebounds, where they cede more per game than any team in the league. Millsap at Center – With Dwight Howard missing time due to injury, the Atlanta Hawks found themselves without a trusted center in their lineup. Coach Mike Budenholzer pushed Millsap to the 5 in most lineups, and it’s had mixed results. Against teams that won’t blister them down low and take advantage of their lack of interior presence, it works quite nicely. Especially on the offensive end, where Millsap can make a pass like this one to Kyle Korver that no center should be able to make.
The spacing on offense is glorious for Dennis Schroder, especially when Paul Millsap pick-and-pops. The Hawks can survive with defensive-minded Sefolosha at the 4 at times. Opponents with two sturdy big men have thwarted this small-ball effort and forced Mike Muscala into action for extended minutes. Muscala is a talented three-point shooter to the corner as well, so I’d expect to see Budenholzer utilize this lineup for stretches even when Dwight is fully healthy, putting together a spread package that maximizes Schroder, Millsap and Korver.
Grind City Lives – The Celtics-Grizzlies game of nearly a week ago might be my favorite game this season. Both teams are scrappy and built in similar fashion, with strong cultures and a knack for winning tight games. The culture in Memphis is one that has survived into its third different head coach — defense, grind out games and make the extra effort. The survival of that philosophy under Fizdale was never more apparent than in their overtime loss to the Celtics last week. One overtime possession in particular stood out.
From a technical standpoint, it’s not a perfect defensive possession by any means. They give up a few middle drives and are forced to help, Conley gets beat back door, and there are a few too many aggressive fly-outs and shooters. But the energy and effort by all five on the court in a crunch time situation was crucial.
Shane Battier was on to something when he said peer pressure is more valuable than coaching; the players in that locker room hold themselves to that standard of play. There’s usually enough sheer talent on the floor for any NBA team. In this league, you can win games by simply out-working your opponent. In December, that matters.
On the other sidelines was the wizard-like Brad Stevens, drawing up some of the best sets out of a timeout this league has seen. Late in close games, Stevens’ IQ, demeanor and faith in his team’s preparation help the Celtics eek out close games and wins on the road. Boston just finished their second three-game road sweep this month, more than they’ve had in the previous five years combined. Both these franchises have postseason sleeper potential.
Generous Hometown Scoring Tables – I wish I could accurately describe why, or how much, this type of thing irks me. The NBA league office probably needs to step in here and figure out a system that combats the issue striking the league these days with hometown scoring tables being overly-generous to their local teams in terms of padding the stats. There are minor ways in which this manifests itself, mainly with the assignment of assists. Those of you who watched the Warriors ho-hum their way to a dominant victory over the Knicks on TNT saw the commentary flow from Kevin McHale and Marv Albert, and they were right on the money. How is this straight line drive to the rim by Thompson credibly counted as an assist?
The Warriors aren’t guilty of scamming any system here; they’re still the best passing team in the universe by a wide margin. Still, the game feels cheated a bit by leaving the determination of what is an assist and what isn’t up to the judgment of a local who gets up-close access to the home team 41 times a year. For a league that is increasingly statistics-driven, the liberal handouts of assists seems more like a Bernie Sanders program than a true measure of team basketball.
Required Reading – Andrew Cutler on the Blazers defensive woes, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer dissects ball screen offense, The New York Times dives deep into Steve Kerr and life balance in a time-demanding profession, Tim Bontemps explains the new collective bargaining agreement (CBA), salary cap guru Albert Nahmad sneaks a peek on the changes this new CBA will have on free agency, the Clippers Twitter account goes savage, and Dirk Nowitzki giving the most during the holidays.
Sets of the Week
Spurs Zip Backdoor
The shot clock is the key on this simple yet effective Popovich set after a time out. With only three seconds to get a shot off, two things are certain as Pop goes into his reserves and draws up a set: a shot must come from an immediate action, and the defense will be pressing to make inbounding the ball difficult. Time and score would indicate the Pelicans need a spark, and forcing a bad shot or a shot clock violation would create that. Good coaches always expect pressure in this situation.
Knowing Mills will be denied, or at least played tight, Popovich uses him as a decoy on the initial inbound, zipping up towards half-court while blanketed by a defender. David Lee flashes to the ball from the nail hole to make himself available, and Mills loops right around Lee to get a bounce pass in rhythm.
Dewayne Dedmon does a great thing here as well — he gets low on the baseline, beneath the block. As Mills turns the corner from the bounce pass and enters the lane, Anthony Davis has a split-second decision to make. He can let Mills run towards the rim and not meet the ball higher than the charge circle, or help uphill towards the ball and leave Dedmon unchecked near the rim. Davis chooses the latter in a no-win situation, and the result is a quick Dedmon alley oop. Quick, simple, and effective against pressure.
Hawks 15 Pop DHO
With that smaller Hawks lineup in featuring Millsap as the center, three shooters spaced the floor around the anticipated Schroder-Millsap ball screen. By barely setting this screen and veering to the top of the key, Millsap forces a switch, which gets Russell Westbrook on him. This is done by design; Budenholzer had seen the Thunder stunt on all ball screens against Schroder all night, and decided to force the switch by having Millsap essentially fake the screen.
As he pops and catches, Kent Bazemore makes a hard backdoor cut, clearing out of the play and to the opposite corner. Replacing him on the wing comes Kyle Korver from the corner. This is an old Princeton-type backdoor action, difficult for Korver’s defender to get through from the help-defense spot on the corner. Just watch the angle that Andre Roberson, Korver’s man, has to take to get around Bazemore. He’s now trailing Korver on the dribble handoff and isn’t in prime position to either switch or get through a dribble handoff. That subtle cut from Bazemore throws off the timing of Roberson by a split-second, and that’s all the Hawks need.
Westbrook and Roberson botch the communication, both leaving Millsap to dart at the elite-shooting Korver. Kyle makes a nice read to hit Millsap on the roll, and the result is an easy two points in a crunch situation.
Heat “1 Down”
A classic double flare set when you need a quick two pointer. Tyler Johnson catches the inbound off a simple wrap entry, curling off Whiteside and exchanging with Dragic to catch at the top of the key. A staggered screen with Dragic instead of a simple exchange leaves them susceptible to the Pelicans jump-switching and getting a steal, or at least making the inbound less comfortable.
Once Johnson catches, both big men raise to set perimeter back screens on the guards surrounding the ball. This is done to occupy help away from the rim so Johnson can dance one-on-one and get to where he needs to go. Even though Anthony Davis does a decent job of not getting sucked into guarding Hassan Whiteside that far from the rim, he’s still aware his help is potentially needed on the action. Davis makes one hesitation to consider recovering to the perimeter to help on the flare screen, and that allows Johnson to spin back to the middle and finish.
Follow @Spinella14
More from Adam Spinella
NBA Draft Prospect Watch: Point Guards Aplenty
December 14, 2016
(0) Comments
The Coaching Spin: What To Make Of The Magic
December 12, 2016
(0) Comments
The post The Coaching Spin: The Knicks Are Decent, Whoever They Are appeared first on BBALLBREAKDOWN.