Knicks Notes: Tom Thibodeau talks roster improvement, health heading into season

The Knicks head into the 2024-25 season with sky-high hopes following a playoff run to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals last season and an offseason that included a pair of blockbuster trades.

But as head coach Tom Thibodeau spoke from the team practice facility during Monday’s media day, he preached the importance of not skipping steps and taking things one day at a time as the Knicks look to build a championship team.

Here are the takeaways…

On the overall roster improvement

While Thibodeau said he would not comment on anything related to the Karl-Anthony Towns trade, given that the team has yet to officially announce the move (Towns is at the team facility on Monday) he did speak in general about the overall improvement of the roster, which has also added former Nets star Mikal Bridges.

“When you finish a season, you take a deep dive into your team and then you analyze what you think the strengths and weaknesses of the club are, and then you plan accordingly going forward all summer,” Thibodeau said. “The first step is the draft, and then you have free agency, and then you have trades. You’re never content. You always want to try to improve, so when opportunities present themselves and you feel like it can improve the team, you want to try to take advantage of that. And I think that Leon [Rose] and his staff have done a good job. They stockpiled draft capital and they waited for the right opportunities. There’s always risk involved, but I thought it was a well-thought-out plan.”

On Jalen Brunson and Mitchell Robinson

Thibodeau shared good news on Brunson, saying the point guard is fully cleared after breaking his left hand in Game 7 against Indiana. Brunson had surgery shortly after, and is good to go for training camp.

As for Robinson, who is recovering from a stress fracture in his ankle, things are a bit murkier.

“There’s no real timeframe for it, other than we want to make sure he’s completely healthy before we move forward,” Thibodeau said. “So, as we get more information down the road — but we’re going to be patient and take our time with it.

“When he’s ready to go,…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/knicks-notes-tom-thibodeau-talks-151156725.html

Author : SNY

Publish date : 2024-09-30 15:11:56

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