rebound wrote:cant think about tanking. win or lose, just dont repeat last season with jarret jack, courtney lee, and michael beasley being premiere players.
Agreed. It's not about losing, it's about how we approach this season. What goals can we achieve without considering the purposeful loss as a strategy?
I thinks it's pretty simple if you look at it like this:
The consensus is that the league has changed. More threes, bigs on the perimeter, blah blah blah. That standpoint is usually toward offense. The reasons why the league has changed are debatable.
So what can a young rebuilding team like the Knicks do? Follow suit and adapt are the obvious answers, and obtaining a star or more has always been agreed upon. That means the goal of rebuilding teams must include developing players, cap flexibility, keeping draft picks, and selecting solid players.
That said the team should make this season about defense. To the point that our defensive goal should mirror any teams offensive goal; to be the best. To the point where playing great defense supersedes our desire to win. Obviously we'll let the chips fall where they may but we will accept losing in favor of development of our youth and our team defense.
We should want to play defense like GS and HOU play offense. Even if we lose we want to establish our identity as a defensive team. We should be the architects against the current NBA landscape. We may not win but we can develop the blueprint on how to combat these undisciplined, shot happy teams.
And if defense is our priority, even over winning for a period, it would be like a cornered animal with nothing to lose. A drunken bully who loves to brawl. We should pride ourselves on playing spoiler. A real IDGAF about making the playoffs attitude which would really bother the opponent who assumes otherwise.
That also means create and cultivate our identity for future acquisitions. Think Tom Thibodeau. Current players, draft picks, free agents, players traded for should know New York is a defensive team when Fiz is done. There should be no question as to the identity and minimal talent we seek: defense.
And maybe our record won't reflect it but our goal should be to inprove and be one of the best defensive teams. I'm guessing some may say we need talented defensive players first and my response would be approach the season as if you already have a few and are trying to find that out. Prioritize defense over wins.
*p.s. Shakes I got that I had the Bridges mixed up in that post. Knox played against Miles.