Shot distribution? Not a lot. Ball distribution and physique motion? These are musts for head coach Mike Brown’s new offensive system.
Shot distribution has been a sticking level in latest video games, culminating with Monday’s loss in Detroit. It was the Knicks’ season-worst fourth loss in a row, a 31-point defeat to a Pistons staff anticipated to face in-between New York and its championship aspirations.
In that recreation, Karl-Anthony Cities and OG Anunboby — New York’s two highest-paid gamers — took 4 photographs apiece and mixed for under 11 factors whereas Jalen Brunson took 21 photographs and Mikal Bridges shot 10.
Within the earlier recreation, a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, Cities took one shot within the first quarter whereas Brunson and Bridges mixed to shoot 13 occasions. By halftime, the All-Star huge man was one-of-six from the sector for 2 factors in comparison with 20 whole photographs break up close to evenly between the 2 Villanova merchandise.
Brown mentioned shot distribution isn’t the largest indicator of his offensive effectivity. However it’s a crimson flag if gamers are standing round idly, watching one participant with the ball as a substitute of working in tandem to run the offense.
“Shot distribution, no. Body and ball movement, yes,” Brown mentioned forward of tipoff towards the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday. “I’m more apt for body and ball movement because shot distribution is going to vary.”
Brown used a Corridor of Fame instance. He harkened again to his time as an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors, who gained 4 championships in an eight-year span. Brown was an assistant on Steve Kerr’s bench for his or her remaining three title runs in 2017, 2018 and 2022.
And the Warriors had established a transparent pecking order that might differ game-to-game however largely remained the identical.
“One of the greatest shooters of all-time that I’ve been with in the past is Steph Curry. He may go the first half with five shots or three shots or whatever, and maybe he ends with 12 or 15 [shots] if he didn’t get that in the first half, but at the end of the day, it’s all gonna be whatever it needs to be,” Brown mentioned. “At the end of the day, Steph’s gonna have the most shots, [Kevin Durant]’s gonna have the second-most shots, Klay [Thompson] may have [the third-most], and that’s what you’re looking at, because not everyone’s gonna have their average of shots every game.”
But far too typically — for stretches that appear to final a lifetime — the Knicks don’t get into any offense.
They don’t contact the paint, spray the ball out the perimeter, reverse the ball from one aspect of the ground to a different, play with tempo or make fast selections within the half courtroom, every being staples of Brown’s up-tempo, free-flowing offense.
As a substitute, the offense stagnates. It seems to be like years previous, the place gamers took turns taking part in hero ball, starting with New York’s score-first level guard. And it’s very true within the first quarters, the place Brunson trails solely Luka Doncic in each scoring (10.5 factors) and shot makes an attempt (7.5) on the season. The Knicks’ captain leads the NBA in each opening interval factors and area purpose makes an attempt over his final 4 video games, however he’s one in every of solely two gamers within the class with a dropping file throughout that stretch (0-4). The opposite is Indiana’s Pascal Siakam, the lone offensive engine for an injured Pacers staff.
Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue mentioned it could actually take a staff fairly a while to regulate to new philosophies after they’ve been with the identical coach for an prolonged time period. The Knicks fired head coach Tom Thibodeau, who held the job since 2020, and are clearly nonetheless studying what Brown desires on offense.
“If you’ve been with a coach for five or six years, it’s a little different to try to change their habits and things they’ve been doing in the past,” Lue mentioned forward of tipoff towards the Knicks. “But it takes about 25 to 30 games to figure out what a coach wants to do offensively and defensively.”
Brown is aware of there’s a fragile line to stroll. His two-best gamers are large particular person offensive abilities who want the ball of their arms to be efficient. However the ball is sticking at charges the staff hasn’t seen since final season. The ripple impact of the protection collapsing is not any coincidence.
The Knicks personal a bottom-three protection over the lifetime of their four-game dropping streak and are fifth-worst in defensive effectivity over their final eight video games.
“When you go through times like this is where you rely on what your standard is. Our standard is about sacrifice, it’s about competitive spirit, it’s about connectivity, and it’s about a belief while being held accountable — starting with me — and then you lean on your staples on both sides of the ball, and when you do that, it can help you get through some of those rough patches. And maybe you lean on this staple a little bit more than the next one,” mentioned Brown. “Possibly you play slightly bit sooner as a substitute of all the time worrying about touching the paint as a result of we’re not all the time figuring that half [touching the paint] out.
“There are different things you can do, but you really rely on the things or the foundation of what your philosophy is and what you’re trying to put in place for the group. And hopefully they continue to embrace it and find different aspects of it to hang their hats on over the course of this time.”
