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Hughes’ Impact on Nate’s Minutes

by Tommy Dee on November 4th, 2009 at 7:36 am

Just got back into to town and excited to go to the Garden tonight. I’m reading Adam Zagoria’s piece on Hughes, who is certain to see more minutes the longer Nate Robinson sits. The question is, what will happen to Nate’s minutes if Hughes continues to produce?

“…As a team you just have to want to play defense,” Hughes said. “You have to enjoy it. You have to enjoy stopping the other team, making it tough on the other team. And that comes with just learning how to win.”

He added: “We have to get stops. We know we can score the ball and shoot the ball, but it’s tough when the other teams don’t think we want to play defense. Then they get that much more comfortable in taking shots and making shots. It’s hard to stop a team from scoring once they get going.”

Say what you want about D’Antoni, I like the fact that he didn’t bury Hughes based on his preseason comments about Lebron. Hughes was punished, in a sense, as the coach sat him during a team scrimmage the next day and the premature buyout talks hit the papers.

We knew that was never going to happen this early in the season.

Hughes is playoff tested, a good defender, and a solid veteran who can provide some good things for the team and has over the past 2 outings.

Is he a good option to play some minutes at the one? So far, he’s been good.

Some may say it’s nice to see Hughes stay professional and focused, and being ready on call.  Some may also say Marbury tried to do the same last season. Obviously, they are two completely different stories.

If you know anything about who Hughes is, it’s not all that surprising that he’s stepped up and produced.
  • Sergio

    Larry Hughes’ minutes should have nothing to do with Nate Robinson. Hughes should be the starting SG. N8 is the 3rd guard. If anyone’s minutes should be cut, it’s Chris Duhon. He’s been awful. It’s one thing to get destroyed by Chris Paul. But Duhon got his butt handed to him by Mario Chalmers, Louis Williams and Raymond Felton this season. I’d personally like to see N8 and Hughes as the starting guards.

  • BiggieSmalls

    Agree 95% Sergio.

    Nate is the first guard off the bench… not a starter.

    Duhon & Nate for 35 plus minutes a nite is a recipe for disaster.

    Both should be 22-28 minute players

    Give Larry 30+ (at both the 1&2) with Douglas filling in for 6-10

    Chandler should be no where near the back court. That was a failed experiment.

  • HaS

    99% agree. Only thing I don’t agree with is Toney getting 10 minutes. He doesn’t look ready yet. I think Hill should be getting 10 mins. It’s embarrassing that this guy can’t get into the rotation as a lottery pick. Ty Lawson wasn’t in the lottery AND he’s playing for a WINNING team!

    I think Douglas will be ready for 6′-10 mins in 15-20 games or so, he shouldn’t shoot a jumper until he makes a layup and sees the ball go through the rim. His confidence in his shot is… shot.

  • BobbyFromBK

    Larry’s role should be starting at the 2 and playing some point in stretches. It’s obvious that he can dish. I predict he’s going to be a pleasant surprise for the Knicks this season. Let Nate come off the bench and when he starts jacking up dumb shots and playing selfish, sit him for the rest of the game.

  • MrFurious

    My only concern with Hughes is when his shot isn’t falling. He loves him some jumpshot! Will his D suffer? Will he continue to jack shots like J Craw…Look at Gallinari, one game removed from canning 30 pts, he has an off shooting night but doesnt force it…he stayed active on D as well as distributing the the rock…to me that’s what I want to see…Larry when you’re shot is off can you see it? Then what will you do?

    Hughes is a solid player when the game comes to him.

  • Sangfroid

    Let’s hope Hughes can learn from the example set. One thing that annoys me is the lack of focus after a missed call. Too much arguing with the refs, and letting a 5 on 4 situation develop at the other end. Play the game!

  • Sangfroid

    The way Duhon is running the team, (foolish turnovers, little penetration) suggests that when Nate comes back, a Hughes/Robinson backcourt might allow for better production, even if in spurts. I had hopes for TD to continue his development from pre-season, but he seems to be picking up too much from Duhon(jack up the 3, little penetration) and forgetting that he was billed as a defensive force while in college.

  • dino of syracuse

    Whoever doesn’t wants to play, wants to be a prima donna., or otherwise screw and embarrass this team…then the fitting punishment is to bury them on the bench a la Starbury and make them the world’s best paid waterboy / bellhop!

  • Mal

    DW should really looked at Bayless, Chris just seems like he is not into it. Sorry TD for bringing up, I watched Westbrook last night and he played well, sometimes there were rookie moving too fast errors but also Im not saying we shouldnt have got Gallo, I like how Gallo seems to be settling in his role and expanding on his game. I was just watching PG play by Westy as opposed to the limits of Duhon, heck even Jenning looked pretty good last night.

    I dont know if Id be oppossed to losing Wilson anymore especially if we get a guy with similiar size and who knows how to attack the basket and shoot well,

    Hughes does like playing defense get him a like partner at the point they could raise havoc. TD OMG cant shoot a lick and lets get Jordan in too either thrive or fail

  • HaS

    That wasn’t why “Starbury” was buried. Don’t rewrite history

  • MiamiMoe

    Mr. Furious~ i agree w/ your concerns about when Hughes not falling, but he does have a defensive presence and hopefully he lives up to this new found maturity & leadership role and get his teammates involved and play D if he’s havin an off night…As far as his min are concerned i don’t think it should be an issue THE ISSUE IS GIVING DUHON SO MANY MIN!!! when Nate comes back he should get 20 min (until he improves his maturity & shot selection) DUHON get 30min ~NOT 40+ MIN!!!~ and give HUGHES his 30 min & TONY D spot min til he proves he deserves more…

    Sorry to get off topic but i wanna touch on 2 things…
    1. MARBURY IS A JOKE AND HE HAS ABOUT AS MUCH CREDIBILITY AS DICK CHENEY @ A FOREIGN POLICY MEETING…END OF MARBURY ISSSUE

    2. People are already starting to comment on 2011, FA, CP3 scenerios and while i respect the fact that this a forum for everything NYK even hypotheticals, i’m tired of talking about hypo. scenerios YEARS from now…we should discuss hypo. scenarios before the trade deadline, AND THATS WHERE I NEED YOUR HELP BIGGIE…
    How bout tryin to make a move for AMARE, THIS YEAR. as much as i was against it i would offer Chandler, Jeffries & Hill for AMARE…& I think we should make a move for Bayless b/c we are in desperate need of a PG, I SAY NATE & w/e else it takes to make it work for BAYLESS…Think about it guys…
    BAYLESS
    HUGHES
    GALLO
    LEE
    AMARE

    That would be sick!!!!! And as far as 2010 of course Lebron is the prize but if not, sign J.JOHNSON & give AMARE an extension…what do you guys think???

  • dino of syracuse

    I beg to differ…Starbury refused to play, was all about himself and embarrassed the team. Hahaha now he eats Vaseline and counts his undeserved money. Very good! All I’m saying is if you’re getting paid to play a game, then at least be a team player and actually play, or else fetch me some water and carry my bags! I got an A plus in history, btw :D

    Well, since you love Starbury so much, I will give him credit for being charitable off the court. Maybe he felt guilty for wasting his talent whilst collecting ridiculous mountains of cash…like, um…look down the bench.

  • NYKat

    Why would D’antoni have benched Hughes based on his Lebron comments, anyway? If he bases his minutes on how a player feels about Lebron coming to NY… this season will be a bigger mess than it already appears to be…

    If Hughes can play to his potential defensively and it costs Nate minutes…so be it. I think defense is a number one priority for this team, even more than Nates enery and scoring

    …and it says alot about d’antoni that the best defensive player on this team fell out of the rotation until Nate got hurt

  • Bob

    HUGHS HAS 2 GOOD GAMES and everyone here is acting as if they discovered plutonium.,saying they should start him at the 2,blah blah blah.this guy has been in the league for years,where were all you guys voices,when d’antoni was benching him at the end of pre-season?

  • jcmoney

    Larry clearly isn’t going to keep this up, his offense is pretty much defined by inconcistencey and streaky shooting. But if he can just nail a few threes a game and keep up the defense, he really fits the Raja Bell role of 2 guard who plays tough defense and can make you pay if you sag off him. As long as D’Antoni makes sure he doesnt dominate the ball, he’s great for this lineup.

    I am pro-Hughes because I happen to really like this starting 5 we’re rocking out there. I think it’s a very versitile lineup for the players we have on the roster. I just hope Larry get understand the role this team needs him in.

  • BiggieSmalls

    D’Antoni had no real good reason to bench Hughes. He missed shots — so did most of the team. We brought this up before.

    It was tremendously short sighted to send him to the bench over nothing. Hahn was talking about his info telling him Hughes was personna non grata in the rotation. Which really made no sense but all of the reporters in this town who lick D’Antoni’s feet didnt question it.

  • Bob

    im starting to see D’antoni as a phony(exuse the rhyme)who ,once he doesnt like a player,its real hard to get out of his doghouse.Off the court he has to be whispering in Donnies ear “WILL YOU PLEASE GET ME A POINT GUARD?” you shoulda signed SESSIONS”

  • Bob

    HEY THERE WAS A TIME WHEN LARRY HUGHS was considered a pretty good ball player.things cant change that much

  • KnickFaninMD

    What is your obsession with arbitrary “rules” like, lottery picks must be in the rotation after 4 games? Hill will play when he plays better than those in his depth chart. In other words, he’ll play when he’s ready. It’s not “embarrassing” (jeez louise, to who?), it’s called good, patient coaching. No doubt you’ll be the first to scream to get Hill on the bench.

  • HaS

    I’m hate even going to go into detail of what actually happened because I’m tired of reliving this crap over and over, but people (Tommy via Berman) keep bringing it up! he came to camp in the best shape of his life (it was actually visibly so), played a backup role through training camp and preseason (pretty well I might add) and then _’antoni who had said he was going to give everyone on the team a clean slate and have them earn their playing time (I would argue he earned it over Duhon), gave him a DNP-CD without warning. Very unprofessional way to deal with a veteran in any sport or any league.

    He was a good soldier through it all initially, not saying anything. Then when it was obvious _’antoni was desperate and had no other choice (he tried to do it without him at first, similar to what he did with Hughes this year), then he goes and ASKS him to play? Where they do that at?

    “All I’m saying is if you’re getting paid to play a game, then at least be a team player and actually play”

    That statement is the exact reason you don’t ask the player if he wants to play, he suits up and then when the game starts you put him in when you need him. As a coach it is common courtesy to tell a veteran what their role on the team is going to be entering the season, especially one who has played such a primary and prominent role throughout his career. _’antoni didn’t do that, but then he goes and asks him if he wants to play? That is completely backwards. I still think he did that BS as a way to say, “well I asked him to play and he said no.” Marbury later said he didn’t say no, but said he felt “uncomfortable” taking time away from other players if the team was going in a different direction as they began to feed the media that company line.

    Walsh couldn’t even spin that crap _’antoni did in a positive way. HE didn’t even understand WTH Mike was doing. If you don’t like a player (especially one with that kind of an expiring contract) at least take advantage of the fact that he can still play, showcase him and trade him. He tied Donnie’s hands on that one, it was a stupid move.

    For the record, I don’t love Stephon Marbury, Starbury or whatever you want to call him, I just don’t have the obsession you guys have with him enough to twist history in order to rail the guy. He’s not even here anymore! WTF? Let it go.

  • HaS

    Congratulations on your A+ in history, you must have cheated. ;-)

  • dino of syracuse

    C’mon Starberman, err…I mean Has. I briefly taught history as well, for the record :)

    Seriously though, you present a well-stated argument and I see your point. I don’t totally agree, but I agree we must move on.

    Still, Knicks fans “have an obsession and twist history” because he was that good AND we would all kill to get paid millions simply to play a game and bounce a ball (if I must break it down to its simplest element). Maybe D’Antoni could have showcased him, but c’mon, who really wanted that headcase? I guess we’ll never truly know.

    I’m psyched for the present and the future though. I wish we would have gotten lucky and drafted Flynn, but I have a feeling we’ll have an exciting breakout year from our young players! Definitely keep playing the newbies!

    PS–Go Yanks!