Tom Thibodeau has always loved to play his best players a lot of minutes, but he rarely plays small. This season, in order to fulfill the former, he will likely have to compromise on the latter.
There are a few things we know for sure about New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau: He plays his players a lot of minutes, that sound you hear is him screaming ICE from the sideline, and he doesn’t go small.Historically, Thibodeau thinks about his defense from the inside out. Protecting the rim is a priority, and he tends to keep a center on the floor for all 48 minutes. There’s a chance Thibodeau doesn’t change, but the way this roster is constructed suggests that he will.
Robinson is still recovering from his second ankle surgery in nine months and he’s played fewer than 60 games in three of the last four seasons. Achiuwa is smaller than a traditional center and was occasionally used on fours while Thibodeau relied on OG Anunoby to defend fives. Anunoby is more comfortable using his strength and reach to defend bigger players. Bridges thrives when corralling ball-handlers on the perimeter and fighting over screens. The Knicks can deploy Anunoby on fives and Bridges on the most threatening perimeter scorer.
Thibodeau has been reluctant to go small in the past. He played just 32 possessions without a traditional center on the court all of last season, according to Cleaning the Glass. Most of those lineups had Julius Randle at the five. There’s a chance that Randle is used as a backup center option this season.
The Knicks might be the league’s deepest team 1-4, but they are most certainly not deep at center. Playing small allows Thibodeau to get his best players more minutes, a tentpole element. Put another way: Thibodeau might not view this approach as going “small” per se, but rather as a way to get his best players on the court.
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