Will Thibs use an 8th man to replace Bojan? If so, who?

[Stannis]

I already feel the players are losing some of their legs and think an 8th man should be added. I thought overall, the players performed better.

Or do you think Thibs just stays to a 7-man rotation moving forward these POs?

If Burks is injured, are the Knicks still stuck in a 7-man rotation?

[seren]

If Burks is healthy and shows some pulse during the practices, he might. Precious is also still a possibility given matchups will be quite different this time. Indy bigs are more mobile.

[god shammgod]

even if you play precious, he's not gonna play at the same time as a center so it really doesn't help the minutes problem. there's only 1 guy he can play and that's burks. and they said a game or 2 ago that burks has a bad shoulder. i don't know the severity of that injury.

[spree8]

Prob not, our guys are warriors tho… they’ll rest when they’re dead

[will]

Alec.

Just had to get the joke in.

[will]

Previous.

Please say The Previous.

[seren]

If Thibs is willing to rotate the players a bit more, you can get away with 7 players. Sub in Deuce earlier and rotate him to back up 1-4 and we are good. We know that Deuce can give you a solid 35+ minutes with no problem.

[mpharris36]

even if you play precious, he's not gonna play at the same time as a center so it really doesn't help the minutes problem. there's only 1 guy he can play and that's burks. and they said a game or 2 ago that burks has a bad shoulder. i don't know the severity of that injury.

you probably just give Burks 5-10 minutes in game 1 and see if he can contribute anything. You can always pull the plug.

But at this point you can't play a 7-man rotation right out of the gate in a playoffs.

Donte and Brunson can play huge minutes but you want that in select games.

If Obi or Siakam is playing the 4 you could see some precious minutes.

[god shammgod]

even if you play precious, he's not gonna play at the same time as a center so it really doesn't help the minutes problem. there's only 1 guy he can play and that's burks. and they said a game or 2 ago that burks has a bad shoulder. i don't know the severity of that injury.

you probably just give Burks 5-10 minutes in game 1 and see if he can contribute anything. You can always pull the plug.

But at this point you can't play a 7-man rotation right out of the gate in a playoffs.

Donte and Brunson can play huge minutes but you want that in select games.

If Obi or Siakam is playing the 4 you could see some precious minutes.

i know they got away with it in the regular season but in the playoffs that's 2 guys you can ignore on defense. it's no good.

[movingon]

I think you gotta give Precious 10 mins on Siakam to give OG a rest.
Pair him with Hartenstein, I don't think the defense will be too crippled.

I don't really see that Alec is needed.

[Hes_On_Fire]

You cannot play 7 men all playoffs and expect to go far.

But that's exactly what Thibs will do.

[NoStatsGuy]

i think you play the guys that you can trust. there will be spot minutes here and tehre for players like percious and maybe burks. but i dont see thibs going any deeper.

If we had randle and bogey that would be perfectly fine. Im fairly certain this series will have blowouts aswell, so there will be garbage minutes to see what our bench looks like and give our starters some needed rest.

[TKKnicks1]

We cant do 7 deep. We just cant. Its not sustainable. Precious needs burn to give JHart/OG some rest. Burks needs burn to give Divo rest. McBride will get burn to give Brunson some rest. It doesnt even have to be major minutes but giving players zero rest in games just sets you up for 4th qtr fatigue and injuries.

[Deeeez Knicks]

Prescious played well as our starting PF for a stretch (12.5ppg, 9.5 rpg, +1.6 per game in 18 games), and in general has been fine there. I realize he is not ideal and the spacing hurts. He has given us good minutes though in the past and his length may help against the Pacers wings. His switchability and defense is a valuable trait against a team like the pacers

[will]

You cannot play 7 men all playoffs and expect to go far.

But that's exactly what Thibs will do.

Thibs ain't going to deviate at this point of his life and NBA coaching career.

[Deeeez Knicks]

Prescious has actually started 2 games at PF against the Pacers this year while with the Knicks:

13.5ppg, 11rpg, 3spg, 2.5bpg, 50%fg

Won one, lost the other (Taj started at C)

This is probably better production then we will get from a non-100% Burks

[sol537]

I think we'll go 7 men... I think Mitch won't be very effective in this series so we'll see more of Precious. Mitch can heal up for the (hopefully) Boston series....

[GONYK]

Precious will get more time this next series. Indy requires more switching and doesn't need size at the 5 at all times.

[Stannis]

You cannot play 7 men all playoffs and expect to go far.

But that's exactly what Thibs will do.

I honestly get Thibs' thought process here. Going back to an 8-man rotation just for the sake of it can be a constantly mistake if the 8th man is not worthy.

There has to be a viable option for the 8th spot and something that makes sense + helps our match ups. For the 76ers, I think Burks was injured. And Bojan had surgery middle of the series. So it would have been risky just throwing a new guy in the 8th spot.

I'm not sure about this series because I'm not familiar with the Pacers.

[moocow007]

Thibs can play Dero...on wait.

Seriously though. They need to find out what the heck is wrong with Burks. Precious can provide depth in the backcourt or wing. After Burks you're looking at Shake My Booty Milton in terms of any real NBA experience.