Donte DiVincenzo ready to help bolster Knicks' defense
Knicks' Donte DiVincenzo, left, passes the ball away from Boston Celtics' Neemias Queta (88) during the second half of a preseason NBA basketball game Monday, Oct. 9, 2023, in New York. Credit: AP/Frank Franklin II
BOSTON — Early last season when the Knicks were stumbling to a sluggish start, it was a defensive focus that took over as Tom Thibodeau shifted the lineup and rotation. But even in a 47-win season it proved to be an oddity for a Thibodeau team, it wasn’t the defense that was the calling card for the Knicks.
They finished tied for third in offensive rating, but were 19th in defense. It’s something that the Knicks would desperately like to change and it clarifies the offseason work — trading away Obi Toppin, the weakest link in the defensive among the rotation and signing Donte DiVincenzo, a versatile defender who could provide one more lockdown piece.
The fans at Madison Square Garden may miss the high-flying, jaw-dropping dunks of Toppin, but the crowd also got excited Saturday when DiVincenzo deftly stole the ball from Mike Conley Jr. and went the other way for a breakaway — unspectacular — dunk.
“I think we can be really good,” DiVincenzo said after the Knicks morning shootaround at TD Garden Tuesday. “You know, we have to get a lot better early on, but that’s what the early part of the season is. We don’t want to pace ourselves. We want to come out and be ready to go. So I think that’s why training camp has been very detailed, getting after it. That’s the big thing for us, we want to come out swinging, not just on the offensive end, but on the defensive end. We want to be a top 10 defensive team and I think we have all the pieces to do so.”
With a smaller, but switchable lineup with the 6-9 Toppin out and the 6-5 DiVincenzo in, the Knicks believe that they can make up for size with players who not only play bigger than their measurement but can run off those stops. When Julius Randle takes one of his rare breathers it will be 6-4 Josh Hart and 6-6 RJ Barrett filling in at power forward. And while Hart is, inch-for-inch, one of the best rebounders in the NBA, he and his teammates can all turn a defensive rebound into a fast break the other way.
But it starts with stops. With DiVincenzo providing one more piece in the Thibodeau mold the Knicks’ hopes for improving on last season’s performance will be to score just as efficiently while becoming a solid defensive group.
"We believe in that very strongly,” said Mitchell Robinson, the 7-1 defensive anchor to the starting lineup. “That's one of our strengths. That's what we focus on mostly. So adding him helps us out a lot. We're going to keep working at it. We got new guys, play to their strengths and stuff like that. So we're going to be all right."
When DiVincenzo first joined forces with Jalen Brunson and Hart at Villanova he was a scorer, but he’s become known now as a force on defense — a change he said took place while he was playing for the Milwaukee Bucks in the backcourt with Jrue Holiday, who coincidentally was now lining up across from him Tuesday night as the shiny new piece for the Celtics.
“It’s funny Jrue being on the other side,” DiVincenzo said. “Playing with Jrue Holiday, sharing a backcourt with him really helped me on and off the court. You know, studying the game on the defensive end and honestly learning little things that you don’t necessarily learn from coaches at the college level and all that. Everything can be scripted, but when you’re talking to one of the best on-ball defenders in the league you pick up certain things. And I found what works for me and I’m still learning.”
Notes & quotes: With a game Wednesday at Madison Square Garden, the Knicks sat Brunson, Randle, Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and Hart Tuesday night. The makeshift lineup fell behind by as many as 27, but closed the gap before falling, 123-110. They were led by 22 points from Quentin Grimes (7-of-12 from three). Jayson Tatum led the Celtics with 28 points and Kristaps Porzingis added 20 points and eight rebounds — and a block of a Mitchell Robinson dunk attempt.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
