Macri’s Missives: The Miami Blueprint

Macri’s Missives is a weekly column published on The Strickland every Thursday, where Jonathan Macri has a candid email exchange with a guest. Think of it like a written podcast. This week, Macri is joined by Collin Loring, site expert at All You Can Heat, to discuss how the Knicks can emulate the Miami Heat’s organizational success.

On Mon, Sep 28, 2020, at 3:28 PM, Jonathan Macri wrote:

Collin, my man!

So before we get into the basketball stuff (which I'm kind of obsessed with... every time I watch Miami I think to myself, "What can the Knicks do to emulate what this team is accomplishing, both on and of the court," and then I remember they hired David Fizdale with that express purpose in mind, and then I have the desire to consume alcohol), I have to know: What's it been like to cover one of the Knicks’ most hated rivals over the last few years?

I did the same thing, writing about the Pacers for six months when I was starting out, and I have to admit, I didn't really pay attention to the rivalry part of it, partially because the Knicks stunk and there was no rivalry anymore, but also because I was objectively looking at them and trying to do my best analysis possible.

How has it been for you, and what have been your big takeaways about how Miami got to this point? Or is that not even the right question, and is this more like, "Don't call it a comeback, Riles never went anywhere?”

On Mon, Sep 28, 2020 at 7:07 PM, Collin Loring wrote:

Jon, thanks again for reaching out. I’d be lying if I said I don’t think about how the Knicks could emulate the Heat every time I hit “publish” on thousands of words essentially gushing over everything they’ve accomplished this season. But somehow, someway, it’s made my belief in the New York Knicks stronger. Experiencing that winning feeling can only make you want it all the more.

As far as the rivalry goes, this team is far removed from the days of competing with the Knicks, while the Knicks are years removed from competing period. New York’s only enemy is themselves at this point. And it’s gonna take a lot more than some sprinkles of Culture in the form of their coaching leftovers (a la Fizdale) to top that.

In a lot of ways, Miami’s successes can be traced back to their taking in and developing young talent (see Robinson, Duncan and Nunn, Kendrick for reference). Now, New York hasn’t NOT done that. But they basically bought the protein and the weight sets without committing to or even bothering to work out. You can have what it takes to succeed while simultaneously blatantly failing. That’s what I see with NY.

A lot of the Knicks’ youth haven’t been given the opportunity they deserved in situations that completely warranted such. Meanwhile Miami, in games that are actually of meaning, are putting the ball in rookies like Tyler Herro’s hands, instilling the confidence that so many guys (Frank Ntilikina, Dennis Smith Jr, Kevin Knox, etc.) are lacking.

If I had to pinpoint just what the difference is in what has been two very different processes between NY and MIA, I’d say, at its core, its the application of the practices they’ve both preached. Will that change under Leon Rose and Tom Thibodeau? Hopefully so.

On Mon, Sep 28, 2020 at 7:43 PM, Jonathan Macri wrote:

I have to say, your "protein and weight set" analogy is spot on. I don't know if you've ever played golf, but I used to swing the sticks quite a bit back in the day. I'd always laugh at these guys who would come out with the most expensive clubs and all sorts of gadgets on, in, and around their bags, and they'd just positively suck. And that's obviously because they didn't put in the work at the range day after excruciating, blister-inducing day.

On that note, it's almost comical to look back now at the initial press conferences and interviews delivered by Steve Mills and Scott Perry. They threw around the phrase "player development" like someone dropping names at the front door of a club they couldn't get into. They had no earthly clue what it meant, and proved as much by empowering Craig Robinson to spearhead that effort within the organization.

We all cooed at the hiring of the ex-first-brother-in-law, but the fact is that he had worked in the NBA for less than a year before the Knicks hired him. He was in way over his head. First they brushed off Frank as a leftover from the previous regime, then they spent an entire season essentially biding time till June 30, 2019, and then last season was all about saving jobs after their colossal failure. At no time did any actual commitment to building a player development program take place, starting with the fact that the notion of what it meant to "be a Knick" or "play Knicks basketball" never took shape, other than as a punchline.

The Heat, well... as you say, they don't just talk the talk. And the funniest part is that while the Knicks are accused of being the ultimate star-chasing organization in the NBA, no one chases stars like the Heat do. It's really quite the magic act when you come to think of it.

On Wed, Sep 30, 2020 at 1:39 PM, Collin Loring wrote:

I'm not sure that player development has ever seriously been considered as the main focus in New York. It felt more as if they were just telling us what we wanted to hear, which shouldn't be shocking to anyone. And boy, did they tell us a lot. The words "player development" would take up 99.9 percent of a potential word cloud if we crafted one from all their interviews last year.

One thing that gives me actual hope (or maybe I'm just another delusional fan) is the newest coaching connection to Miami and this team's successes — Jimmy Butler's superstar status, or more importantly, who he so often credits in getting to that point: Tom Thibodeau. There are two kinds of people on NBA Twitter: those who refuse to let you forget Butler went so late in the draft and those that don't reference it enough. But it seems relevant to note that the 21 teams that picked from the first to 29th picks passed on him in 2011, and it's hard to say where he'd be today if he had gone anywhere but Chicago.

Thibodeau is the man for the job in New York. That much I'm reaffirmed of when watching Butler play the game. But whether or not they'll give him the chance to stick around, as we've seen a reluctance towards in the past, is the greater question. All my concerns about RJ Barrett's conditioning (which is an unsurprisingly sensitive topic among Knicks fans) and his slow start last year flew out the window when we got the Thibs report.

On Wed, Sep 30, 2020 at 4:18 PM, Jonathan Macri wrote:

So I'm really happy you brought this up. Knicks fans have justifiably gotten annoyed over the last few years when certain writers (not naming any names) fall all over themselves to wax poetic about the culture of certain organizations. Of course, most of it is bullshit (See: Atkinson, Kenny in Brooklyn and Rivers, Doc in LA).

Thibs actually had one of the best cultures in the NBA in Chicago and he built that shit from scratch (See: Del Negro, Vinny). Why didn't it get talked about as such more often? Maybe his issues with management, maybe because he wasn't warm and fuzzy with the media... who knows. But it was a real thing. There's no way you can push the soon-to-be-2-time-champs like they did - with Nate Robinson as a starting point guard, no less - otherwise.

So my final question to you, having watched the Heat closely for a while now, is what signs are you going to be looking for as a Knicks fan to tell you that Thibs is actually pulling off the impossible and instilling a culture here?

On Wed, Sep 30, 2020 at 8:28 PM, Collin Loring wrote:

Jon, here I was thinking we were having a friendly back and forth and then you throw me some impossible question like that. Is this how you treat all your guests?

Haha, I'm kidding. On a serious note, I'm going to be looking for signs of consistency before I start thinking about how they can be more like Miami and replicate the famous "Heat Culture." New York has a long way to go, and they've barely moved the needle in that direction as far as I'm concerned.

So many head coaches have come and gone that have flinched in the face of adversity from above and made changes that seemed premature to me. If Thibodeau can just come out and run this team onto the court in the same ways and variations for two, three months on end? I'll be wildly optimistic about the immediate future for the Knicks. For what it’s worth I think the chances of that happening are more likely than not.

But they've got to commit. To their head coach firstly, and the players second. Something we haven't seen this organization do in a long time.

On Wed, Sep 30, 2020 at 9:47 PM, Jonathan Macri wrote:

I think all of that is fair. It seems like a million years ago now, and it's not a take that has aged well, but right up until the end with Fizdale, I wanted them to stick with him. Did I ever think he was a particularly good coach? No, but I was just so tired of bouncing from coach to coach, and I knew that good organizations didn't do that. But organizations also have to find the right coach, and this may come back to bite me, but I think this regime will be able to hold off Dolan from doing something silly even if the wins don't come hand over fist this season. I think Thibs will earn Dolan's trust through the team's play, and it'll be fairly obvious that they've taken a step up in weight class from the last few guys who were here. That's the prayer at least. And that is step one. Still a few (dozen) steps away from where Miami is, but gotta start somewhere, right?