BeingMikeHunt | Knicks

151 | 10 hours ago

The Knicks have the same record but have a much better net rating, a much better defensive rating, and a much better record against elite teams - all with more injuries overall

ObiOneKenobae | Knicks

54 | 9 hours ago

They’ve also had the 3rd hardest schedule to date, with the 4th easiest ahead, and most of the struggles are isolated to that one 2-9 stretch. They’re a visibly much better team on both ends than last year.

chicken101 | Knicks

25 | 7 hours ago

And Brunson can chill and score 9 points and they can beat a good Nuggets team by 40 lol

BeingMikeHunt | Knicks

13 | 9 hours ago

Yep agreed

Dylan7346 | Knicks

19 | 8 hours ago

You can’t say with more injuries tho.

Last year Mitch only played 17 games. That’s huge. Deuce missed 18 games. Brunson missed 17. And the bench consisted of Cam Payne, Precious, Sims, and Shamet coming off an injury from preseason

BeingMikeHunt | Knicks

14 | 8 hours ago

Comparing to this exact point last year? It’s a mixed bag.

Brunson got hurt right around a year ago today. Before that, he had barely missed any time. Meanwhile, Mitch hadn’t played yet at this point last year, while this year he has “only” missed 18 games.

BUT the thing about this year is that there have been more injuries spread across more rotation players on the roster. Mitch has missed 18 games. OG has missed 14 games. Hart has missed 12 games. Deuce has missed 29 games. Shamet has missed 25 games. At this point last year, OG, Hart, and Deuce had all missed significantly less time, while Mitch had missed more.

You are right that they are deeper this year, but they also have a coach much more willing to experiment with the bottom half of the roster.

Dylan7346 | Knicks

8 | 8 hours ago

I agree Mike Brown is a better coach for this roster after the KAT and Mikal trade. But I don’t think it makes sense comparing injuries, even with deuce missing more time this season Mitch would have been such a key addition to the team last year. We only had Sims, Huk, and Precious. I also think there’s a real chance Thibs would have played Diawara. He had not problem playing Deuce and Grimes their rookie years. And Kolek is just not there yet, we’re seeing it this year so he certainly wasn’t last year. Diawara has the length and defending ability Thibs loves.

Still tho like I said, the current roster is a better fit for Mike Brown than Thibs

Prideofmexico | Knicks

0 | 7 hours ago

How are there still Thibs dick riders

nbaistheworst

14 | 10 hours ago

The roster is better IMO - Shamet has really been playing well since coming back from injury.

zOmgFishes | Knicks

17 | 9 hours ago

We had Shamet last year since December. Thibs just never gave him much minutes until March. Shamet played 50 games last year. Even if he plays every game from now to the end of the season, he’d only play 8 more games than last year.

Our two biggest off season signing in Yabu and Clarkson have been a wash.

Tapprunner | Spurs

8 | 9 hours ago

It’s not a coincidence that the bench is playing better this year…

Prideofmexico | Knicks

2 | 7 hours ago

We had shamet last year too. The bum just didn’t use him

Prideofmexico | Knicks

-1 | 7 hours ago

Yep. This team is a lot better under brown than the senile jack ass

BeingMikeHunt | Knicks

6 | 7 hours ago

Eh, it’s early for all that and Thibs is a very good coach

I’d say Thibs has some strengths and brown has some strengths

But I do think this team’s ceiling is much higher and Brown deserves credit for that.

FroyoSolid8414

1 | 4 hours ago

RemindMe! - 2 months

Prideofmexico | Knicks

1 | 3 hours ago

Thibs ain’t coming back 🫵🏻😂

Efficient_Art_1144 | Celtics

109 | 9 hours ago

They also have a top 10 offense and defense.

I know they went through a skid but it might be time to stop talking about them like they can’t tie their shoes most days

Prideofmexico | Knicks

21 | 7 hours ago

The other side of being a big market. Everything is under a microscope. Mike brown has been a breath of fresh air from the Thibs tyranny

drewm916 | Kings

3 | 5 hours ago

Right, there is no middle ground. He’s either sent directly from heaven or the worst coach in the history of the team.

Prideofmexico | Knicks

5 | 5 hours ago

Facts. He’s a good coach who isn’t in the elite tier

beachbummeddd

19 | 7 hours ago

Top five for the season and number one since late January pretty sure

Tapprunner | Spurs

46 | 9 hours ago

It should also be pointed out that Thibs only won so many games because he played his starters crazy minutes.

Every team sacrifices regular season wins when they don’t play their starters for 45 minutes because there are 82 games and it’s an unsustainable and idiotic way to run a team.

Thibs left his starters in to secure more regular season wins in the way a coach usually only does in the playoffs. If he had played his starters fewer minutes, he probably would have won fewer regular season games… but also been better prepared for the playoffs.

I’m not a big a Mike Brown guy, but it’s pretty clear that he’s a much better coach than Thibs.

d1t0m6 | Nets

10 | 7 hours ago

Thibs got them to the EFC for the first time in 50 years. Everyone bought in except Mikal. He wasn’t “much worse”

Prideofmexico | Knicks

9 | 7 hours ago

He was much worse. We barely scraped by a severely undertalented pistons team in large part because of Thibs

Thick-Asparagus1579 | Knicks

10 | 5 hours ago

Hard to say under talented when 3 months later they have a season like the one they’re having now with the same core

Chao-Z | Knicks

2 | 3 hours ago

What’s that Pistons team’s current record again?

Prideofmexico | Knicks

0 | 3 hours ago

Yawn

Tapprunner | Spurs

2 | 5 hours ago

Yeah, it was Mikal Bridges fault that Thibs just had him stand in a corner and do nothing on offense. And Mikal forced him to play Josh Hart 40+ mpg in 5 straight games in January. Mikal prevented him from instituting anything on offense that was more creative than “give Brunson the ball and let’s hope for the best”. The Knicks weren’t a disaster or anything, but nobody can seriously make the claim that he took that roster and turned them into something greater than the sum of the parts.

Too many people, for too long, have conflated “knows more about basketball than anyone else” with “good basketball coach”. I don’t doubt that Thibs knows more about Xs and Os than I ever will. He could probably score higher on a written exam about basketball than Mike Brown. But that’s not the same thing as being a good coach. Thibs simply isn’t a good NBA coach.

The fact that Mike Brown can (most likely) get more wins with worse injury luck and playing his best players fewer minutes says a lot.

d1t0m6 | Nets

1 | 4 hours ago

Reading comprehension, my dude. All I said was that everyone bought into Thibs’ system except Mikal, who complained to the press about him and likely played a part in getting him fired.

Tapprunner | Spurs

1 | 3 minutes ago

Then I’m not sure I follow. Was Thibs not that bad because he got most guys to buy into his system, but Mikal Bridges undermined him?

Bridges complaining probably didn’t help, but that’s not what got Thibs fired. Almost everyone in the world had come to the same conclusion by the end of the playoffs - the team had gone as far as it could with Thibs. He also made some really obvious mistakes (like running his starters into the ground all year and screaming at them to shut up when they asked to not play 45 minutes in a random January game), but seems to be the only one in the world who doesn’t think he was wrong. There was no scenario in which he was going to be coaching the Knicks this year. Bridges could have begged the front office to keep him and they still would have moved on from Thibs.

Impossible_Collar2 | Thunder

16 | 10 hours ago

probably will have a better record then last season, maybe ends off at 53-29

nbaistheworst

10 | 10 hours ago

I think you’re right, they have the 4th easiest remaining schedule by simple W-L records of opponents.

Impossible_Collar2 | Thunder

3 | 9 hours ago

toughest matchups left are vs the thunder, rockets, celtics, hornets 2x, clippers, lakers and raptors

you could go at least anywhere from 4-4 up to like 6-2 against this here and the rest of ur games are against some mid or bad teams

polishonions

4 | 9 hours ago

With the team playing like this and the schedule ahead, 12-6 to end the season feels like the floor. The one reason they may end up under 53 is if are locked into the 3 seed by the final week. Those ending games against toronto and charlotte will probably be meaningless for NY, but definitely have meaning for those two

mathis4losers | Knicks

11 | 7 hours ago

Knicks have played 41 games against teams at or above 500. That’s more than any other team in the top 18. The starters are playing a combined 18 fewer minutes per game. Since their 2-9 stretch, they’ve had the highest net rating in the league and the best defense in the league.

nbaistheworst

4 | 7 hours ago

41 out of 64 is 64%, that’s a tough schedule. Pistons at ³⁵⁄₆₁ (57%), Celtics ³⁵⁄₆₃, 55.5%

HokageEzio | Knicks

5 | 9 hours ago

@ Lakers
@ Clippers (b2b)
@ Utah
@ Indy
Warriors
Indy
Brooklyn
Washington
Pelicans
@ Hornets
@ Thunder
@ Rockets
@ Grizzlies (b2b)
Bulls
@ Hawks
Celtics
Raptors (b2b)
Hornets

Lotta easy games in there. Think they get to 53 or 54. Biggest question to me is if either of those games after Boston at the end of the year matter. If they lock up the 2 seed I think they take their foot off the gas.

mattr1198 | Knicks

4 | 5 hours ago

The eye test and advanced stats tell a WAY better story than the record does. This year’s team is so much better: better offensive rating, defensive rating, net rating, pace, REB%, etc. Just observing them also, the offense actually moves the ball, while the defense actually guards the 3 and better manages screens in the PnR. The deeper bench helps, but as much as many fans love Thibs, he was a dinosaur in terms of Xs and Os

holy_tacos

3 | 5 hours ago

This season’s team is better, they did win the NBA cup after all

jumboponcho | Hawks

3 | 5 hours ago

This team is definitely better and can beat you in so many ways

FroyoSolid8414

2 | 4 hours ago

People are stupid. Last year, the Knicks lost the best defensive center rotation in the NBA in Hartenstein and Mitch (who played 0 games until this point in the season) and replaced them with a traffic cone in KAT who they traded for DURING TRAINING CAMP. It was a damn miracle that team wasn’t bottom 10 in defense.

Successful-Sky4411

-7 | 9 hours ago

What is this post? The east has been wide open all year and they were the favorite to come out of it. Yet they are the third seed.

qj1135 | Knicks

17 | 8 hours ago

you don’t watch basketball if you think the east is easy or wide open.

Neither-Operation | Knicks

7 | 8 hours ago

What does seeding have to do with “coming out of the east”?You can still win the ECF as a 3 seed or any seed.Knicks just had a terrible slump at some point.If that never happened they likely would be in 1st place.

nbaistheworst

4 | 8 hours ago

Actually, the Cavs were the preseason favorites to come out of the east. And the Pistons and Celtics have tougher remaining schedules, so the Knicks could pass at least 1 of them

Austuckmm | Knicks

3 | 8 hours ago

The east is as good or better than the west at this point

nbaistheworst

1 | 7 hours ago

The top teams in the east, maybe. Top to bottom, the west is still slightly better (1%) head to head.

bobbacklund11235

-8 | 10 hours ago

Reg season doesn’t matter in the nba

nbaistheworst

8 | 10 hours ago

Seeding does

After last night’s road win in Denver, the Mike Brown Knicks have the same record as they did last season under Thibs at 41-23.