{"id":38635,"date":"2020-08-01T15:01:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-01T12:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/tom-thibodeau-hints-at-shift-in-knicks-g-league-stance\/"},"modified":"2020-08-01T15:01:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-01T12:01:00","slug":"tom-thibodeau-hints-at-shift-in-knicks-g-league-stance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/tom-thibodeau-hints-at-shift-in-knicks-g-league-stance\/","title":{"rendered":"#Tom Thibodeau hints at shift in Knicks\u2019 G-League stance"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Tom Thibodeau hints at shift in Knicks\u2019 G-League stance<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n Judging by Tom Thibodeau\u2019s remarks Thursday, the Knicks\u2019 policy on using their G-League Westchester Knicks could shift.<\/p>\n

During his Zoom introductory call, Thibodeau said if a young prospect isn\u2019t getting sufficient playing time, there may be reason to explore sending him to the G-League.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think game<\/a>-time is important,\u2019\u2019 Thibodeau said. \u201cSo if a young player is not getting the app<\/a>ropriate amount of time to develop, we\u2019ll utilize the G-League. That\u2019s become an important part of our league. We\u2019ll certainly take advantage of that.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n

There was an irony to Thibodeau\u2019s statement. The idea of using the G-League Knicks to give massive minutes to lottery picks such as Dennis Smith Jr., Kevin Knox, Frank Ntilikina became the root of a debate between Craig Robinson, the team\u2019s former vice president of player development\/G-League operations, and Knicks GM Scott Perry, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

Robinson, brother of former First Lady Michelle Obama, left the Knicks in mid-July to become the head of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Robinson\u2019s contract was to expire in August and he was not expected to return under the new regime. Robinson and ousted president Steve Mills were former Princeton teammates and close friends.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/img>
Tom Thibodeau<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to an NBA source familiar with the situation, Robinson lobbied to have the Knicks\u2019 top prospects who weren\u2019t getting enough NBA time to spend a few games \u2014 or weeks \u2014 in the G-League to gain rhythm and grow confidence.<\/p>\n

Perry rejected the notion, feeling it would be perceived as too big a demotion and felt practice time as well as being around NBA coaches was more vital, according to a source. Robinson\u2019s counter was that during the NBA season, practice time and scrimmages are limited.<\/p>\n

There were plenty of opportunities for Smith, Ntilikina and Knox to play for Westchester. Robinson felt that would be a healthy aspect of their development, according to the source.<\/p>\n

In 2019-20, Smith saw two big layoffs. In October, he left the club for three weeks after his stepmother passed away. That was followed by sitting out more than a month with an oblique injury. Smith was also in and out of the rotation upon his return and his season turned into a mess.<\/p>\n

Ntilikina, too, has not always been a key fixture in the rotation in his first three seasons. In addition, Knox, faced with limited playing time in his second season, struggled massively with a demotion to the bench.<\/p>\n

Those three combined to play zero games in the G-League \u2014 which may or may not have stunted their growth.<\/p>\n

Robinson had pushed for Courtney Lee and Joakim Noah to make rehab appearances in Westchester. That was approved by Perry. In addition, second-round picks, Damyean Dotson and Ignas Brazdeikis, saw their share of G-League action. Brazdeikis played 24 games for Westchester as a rookie. <\/p>\n

This apparent change in philosophy \u2014 if adopted \u2014 could have a large impact in 2020-21. The Knicks have three picks in the top 37, their own lottery pick, the Clippers\u2019 first-rounder and Charlotte\u2019s second-round pick.<\/p>\n

Thibodeau has a track record of not overplaying his rookies. So theoretically, Westchester could be an occasional landing spot to try to speed up their player development.<\/p>\n

It is unclear if Robinson\u2019s position will be filled by team president Leon Rose. According a league source, the franchise might want more of an on-court player development coach than Robinson was.<\/p>\n

Robinson had more of an executive role as Mills designed it three years ago and the former Oregon State coach didn\u2019t do on-court work with the players.<\/p>\n

However, Robinson was known to take out a lot of the players to dinner on the road to instill trust, goodwill and get to know them better. Perhaps that was what he was referring to when he talked about the \u201cspecial sauce\u2019\u2019 the franchise was using in its player development. <\/p>\n

The Post has reported assistant to the GM Allan Houston would take on more of an on-court player-developmental role and that Rod Strickland has been considered for a G-League\/player development role.<\/p>\n

Thibodeau made reference to the situation when asked his view of player development. Houston played for the Knicks when Thibodeau was the top assistant. Thibodeau was not asked specifically about Robinson\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some cases the player development guys are the guys you get out on the floor,\u2019\u2019 Thibodeau said. \u201cIf you have some older players on your roster, you tend to go with more player development guys so the younger guys can get the work they need [if they\u2019re not playing]. But I think we\u2019ll look at our roster. We have a very young team. We have to prioritize that.\u201d <\/p>\n

Perry, who was on the Zoom call, stressed player development as a part of Thibodeau\u2019s new staff. <\/p>\n

\u201cBased on the conversations that we\u2019ve had, this staff will be diverse and very strong in all areas, especially in player development,\u2019\u2019 Perry said.\n <\/p><\/div>\n

\n

If you want to read more Sports News<\/a> articles, you can visit our General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Tom Thibodeau hints at shift in Knicks\u2019 G-League stance” Judging by Tom Thibodeau\u2019s remarks Thursday, the Knicks\u2019 policy on using their G-League Westchester Knicks could shift. During his Zoom introductory call, Thibodeau said if a young prospect isn\u2019t getting sufficient playing time, there may be reason to explore sending him to the G-League. \u201cI think…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38636,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[47420],"class_list":["post-38635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-tom-thibodeau-hints-at-shift-in-knicks-g-league-stance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}