A few notes on the Knicks’ preseason win over Detroit on Friday:
Tom Thibodeau says minutes and roles will be earned and not given on this young Knicks team. So it was interesting to see Nerlens Noel start at center in New York’s preseason opener.
Maybe it was insignificant; Thibodeau said that he wanted to use the first preseason game to look at different players and lineup combinations.
But Noel played well in New York’s win over Detroit. He had 10 points, eight rebounds, two blocks, an assist and a steal in his Knicks debut. New York outscored Detroit by 11 points in Noel’s 25 minutes.
Mitchell Robinson impacted the game, too. He had seven rebounds, an assist, two blocks and four steals in 22 minutes.
Thibodeau was asked after the game about Noel’s play during training camp and his decision to start the 26-year-old ahead of Robinson.
“The rim protection is elite. And then the finishing at the basket,” the coach said. “(But) I’ve been very pleased with Mitchell as well. When you have two bigs that are like that, it’s a big bonus.
“And they’re very similar. I’m not sure who I’m going to start. But I like both of those guys and I’m going to need them to play well to play well as a team.”
Robinson’s role/minutes will be something to keep an eye on all season.
In a vacuum, it would make sense to play Robinson over Noel. New York found a gem when it drafted Robinson with the No. 36 pick in the 2018 draft. In his first two NBA seasons, Robinson has established himself as one of the top young rim protectors in the game. But, like most young players, the 22-year-old has a lot of room to improve on both ends of the floor.
With the Knicks in the early stages of a rebuild, you’d think that they’d start Robinson and play him heavy minutes to allow him to play through mistakes during games.
But Thibodeau isn’t handing out minutes to his young players this season for the sake of development. So Noel, who signed a one-year deal with the Knicks in the offseason, started in the preseason opener.
And if Noel continues to perform like he did against Detroit, it’s reasonable to assume he’ll start at center in the regular season.
Knicks fans who believe Robinson can be a star in this league will disagree with Thibodeau’s approach.
But, until proven otherwise, the coach deserves the benefit of the doubt here.
There’s a reason he ranks so highly on the list of career-winning percentage among coaches; he knows how to prepare his teams to win. And he established a solid track record of developing players in Chicago.
So how he handles Robinson and the other young Knicks is something worth monitoring this season. But there’s no reason to draw any strong conclusions about Thibodeau’s approach with young players – or Robinson’s Knicks future – after one preseason game.
RJ BOUNCE BACK
RJ Barrett missed his first six shots against Detroit but made six of his next eight. He finished with 15 points, five rebounds and two assists. Here’s how Thibodeau assessed his night:
"Him getting downhill was really good. I thought he missed a couple bunnies right at the start, but I liked how he (was) very aggressive on the first play of the game, all the way to the rim. Then once he settled down, he finished a couple. The basket became bigger. As long as he takes good shots, I like the way that he can get into the pain the way he can. One of the things that we want to emphasize (to the team is) the rim reads, when that second and third defender come, we want to make the right play. The game tells you the play. You can’t predetermine what you’re going to do. If there’s three people on you just spray it out and hit the open man.”
NYK DEFENDS IN THIBS DEBUT
Historically, Thibodeau’s teams defend well. The Knicks roster isn’t teeming with elite defenders, but they played solid team defense against a bad Pistons team Friday. New York held Detroit to 32 percent shooting and generated 12 steals.
“Just the effort,” Thibodeau said when asked if he was happy with the defense. “It’s a first preseason game, so I don’t want to read much into it. It was good to go against a different opponent. We’ve been going against each other for a week now. So I think the players were looking forward to that type of challenge.
“And we were high in turnovers as well (24), and I think that’s not uncommon at the start of the preseason. And that’s something we obviously have to correct. They had some unforced errors and had some good shots that they missed.
“And we have to have an awareness of what’s going on in the game in terms of where we are foul-wise in terms of bonus. Who is on the floor? What are their strengths? How do you play with the lead? You want to play with toughness with the lead. You don’t want to foul and you don’t want to give up open threes. So those are things we obviously have to improve upon.”